


This Year

by la luna (moontrimmer)



Series: Encantadas [3]
Category: Amar a Muerte (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21644404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moontrimmer/pseuds/la%20luna
Summary: Valentina has been looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays with her dad, but he's on a business trip and couldn't come home early. Juliana misses her mom, but new circumstances meant that she couldn't go home early. The two of them decide to stay in Ilvermorny for the week before Christmas -- a whole week of no classes, fewer students at school, and a whole lot of holiday fun and cheer.Or...Juliana and Valentina's first Christmas break together. Yay!
Relationships: Valentina Carvajal & Juliana Valdés, Valentina Carvajal/Juliana Valdés
Series: Encantadas [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1381516
Comments: 61
Kudos: 179





	1. Chapter 1

###### Notes:

Third instalment of the **Ilvermorny AU**. Valentina is in her third year, Juliana in her first.

This is set directly after the events of _Gifts and Gaffes_.

Unlike that fic, this one has more elements of the Harry Potter world. I also take a lot of liberties with it.

I don't know if anyone who hasn't read Harry Potter would be interested in this fic, but I will still try to explain everything that's too specific to that world. As for those who have read Harry Potter, I'll explain the liberties I've taken with the world in the endnotes.

Also, I apologise in advance if I step on some aspect of Mexican culture. I promise I did my research, but I'm nowhere near as confident with it as I am with the Harry Potter world. So I am perfectly happy to be corrected.

\--------

**HP Canon**  
\- I'm assuming everyone knows about Quidditch.  
\- The Finches and Hammers are actual canon Quidditch teams.

**Mexican Culture**  
I know that not all people celebrate Christmas, but I think it's a big part of Mexican culture. I read up on the various ways Mexicans celebrate Christmas (and interviewed my unsuspecting Mexican colleague about it, lol) and I'm aware that posadas are a thing, but I don't think it's a tradition that the Carvajals would strictly follow -- particularly the magical versions of themselves. Also, they couldn't really have those if they're staying in Ilvermorny, so I decided not to address it in the fic.

\--------

Lastly, please forgive my Spanish grammar.

.  
.  
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#### 1

León Carvajal’s children gazed up at his face on the surface of a parchment-sized mirror-like device floating in front of them.

He had just dropped a piece of unwelcome news. Ilvermorny’s Christmas break was coming up, starting a full week before Christmas, but he would not be able to come home from a business trip in England until Christmas Eve.

The news didn’t affect his older children’s plans. Eva had been intending to stay in Ilvermorny for an additional week in order to work on various projects and assignments. Guille would be spending the week before Christmas with some friends to watch several Quidditch games. Valentina, however, had been looking forward to being home with her dad over Christmas break.

Eva and Guille looked over at their younger sister in concern. Valentina’s lower lip was starting to jut out.

“ _Pero…_ ” Valentina started, her voice small, “ _nos prometiste_.”

He _had_ promised. They’d called him on _el Día de Muertos_ but he’d been hurrying to a meeting so he’d had to end the call early, but not before promising them that he’d be home for _all_ of Christmas break.

“ _Lo sé, mijita,_ ” León said, his voice soft and gentle, like a new father afraid to make his baby cry. “But what I’m trying to do, this is really important. If I can really get this venture off the ground, we’d be able to help so many people. You understand that, right?”

Valentina nodded even as she looked down, not wanting to meet her dad’s eyes.

Her dad wanted to help convince the Healing community to work more with Muggle medicine. He’d started the project after her mom’s death, but now he was starting to gain the support of many brilliant Healers. He’d told Valentina and her siblings that her mom could have been saved had the Healers been willing to work with Muggle technology. He’d said that even if they couldn’t save her mom back then, they could at least save other people’s lives now. And she didn’t want to be selfish, not at all, but--

“ _Prometiste_ ,” she repeated, even quieter than before, but she knew everyone had heard her. She’d been looking forward to the Christmas holidays, thinking that her dad would be home longer unlike the years before.

Guille gave Valentina’s shoulder a comforting squeeze, reaching over Eva to do so. Eva, who was sitting between the two of them, gave her dad a disappointed shake of the head. Valentina was still looking down so she didn’t notice it, but Eva could see that her dad did. He had the grace to look guilty, but Eva knew he wouldn’t change his mind.

All the Carvajal children knew León wouldn’t change his mind. It was why Valentina didn’t bother throwing a tantrum to convince him to come home early. She’d tried that before and it hadn’t worked.

“Well,” Eva said after a moment, exhaling loudly. “Is that all?” she asked, addressing her dad as though he were a fellow prefect or as though she were his business partner.

“I’ll be home by Christmas Eve,” said León. “I pr--” he caught his words, withdrawing them abruptly. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“Yeah… just don’t be late for _noche buena_ again.” With that, Eva ended the call, not bothering to say goodbye.

Valentina would have objected, but she was too hurt by her dad to protest.

Eva waved her wand; the mirror-like Floo Glass shrunk to palm-size as it floated towards her waiting hands. Pocketing the Floo Glass, she stood up and walked a short distance away from her siblings to lean against the teacher’s desk.

They were in an empty classroom. Eva had commandeered it so they could take their dad’s call in private. She’d known that he wasn’t going to be delivering good news; she’d suspected it the moment he’d sent her a message yesterday saying he wanted to talk to all three of them.

Guille slid across the bench to take over the space Eva had vacated, next to Valentina. He put an arm around her shoulders.

“Vale,” he began, tilting his head to get a good look at his younger sister’s face. “ _Estas bien?_ ”

Eva glared at the back of his head. It was a stupid question to ask. “You can stay here with me,” she told her younger sister, unable to keep the hardness from her voice even though her anger was solely for their dad. “For the week before Christmas, I mean. I have a lot of things to do, but-- I mean, we can still have meals together if I don’t-- there will be other students here too.”

Guille looked up at Eva, frowning at her noncommittal offer, before turning back to Valentina. “Or you can come with me and my friends. We’re going to follow the Finches for two matches, one here at home, and one away against the Hammers. We’re also watching the USA versus Brazil friendly. You’ll love it.”

Valentina raised her head towards Guille, but Eva spoke up first.

“She’s _not_ going with you. I know whatever you and your friends are planning to do is not fit for a thirteen-year-old girl.”

“What, who’s going to stop her? _Dad?_ He’s too busy.”

“ _I’m_ stopping you,” Eva said pointedly. “And I know you know better than to bring _hermanita_ with you.”

Guille deflated at that, but Eva wasn’t done talking.

“You know what you should do? Cancel your plans with your friends and go home early so Vale can have some company at the manor that isn’t the help.”

“Why don’t _you_ go home early?” Guille countered.

Eva gave him an affronted look. “My plans are actually _important_. I’m in the running for Head Girl and I’m preparing for my CATs. You’re just going off to do something… _unproductive_.”

Guille turned to Eva fully then, withdrawing his arm from Valentina’s shoulders in the process. “Just because--”

“ _Stop!_ ” Valentina cut in, jumping up to her feet and scowling at her older siblings. “Stop it, both of you!”

Eva and Guille had always fought and Valentina had always hated it. She hated it even more now that they were arguing about who should be looking after her. She wasn’t a small child. She opened her mouth, intending to tell them just that, but immediately decided against it. She knew they were just going to tell her what they think she should do on Christmas break now that their dad had backed out on their plans, and she was in no mood to talk about that. She’d been so excited when Eva had told her earlier that morning that their dad would be calling them, thinking that he’d wanted to plan their Christmas break together. She’d even thought that he’d try to convince Eva and Guille to come home earlier. Now--

Without another word, Valentina turned on her heel and strode towards the door.

“Vale, where are you going?” Guille called after her.

“To be alone!” Valentina yelled in reply, not bothering to look back.

*

Juliana waited for Valentina at the courtyard nearest to the Pukwudgie dormitories. She was sitting at her usual spot, on a bench off to one corner and partly hidden from the rest of the area by a small tree, bare for the winter. Classes had ended over an hour ago and there were other students about, mostly other Pukwudgies, but she was out of everyone’s way.

The softly falling snow stopped several yards above the ground, courtesy of the climate-control magic around the castle, but the cold could not be kept out completely. Juliana was thankful for her magically-heated school robes. She wrapped it tighter around herself, grasping at its gordian knot-shaped fastening as she leafed through a shopping catalogue to look for gift ideas.

Along with her brand new wand, robes, and school supplies, she also received a monthly allowance from Ilvermorny. She’d been sending all of the money to her mother, converted to Muggle dollars, bending the truth a little bit by telling her mother that the amount she’d sent was what was left over from her allowance. She didn’t need the money; she was already getting three full meals a day and a warm bed to sleep in at Ilvermorny. Her mother was not so lucky.

Last week, however, she’d made the mistake of telling her mother about the fight she’d had with Valentina over her surprise gifts, and her mother had clued in to the fact that she’d been sending all her allowance home. Despite Juliana’s protests, her mother had told her in no uncertain terms that she was no longer permitted to send her money.

Juliana had not been pleased about it. She didn’t know what to do with her allowance money; Valentina had already given her the only things she wanted. Now that Christmas was coming up, however, she was happy that she had money to spend on gifts for her friends. She was even able to join the Secret Santa that her classmates had organised.

Juliana was so focused on the shopping catalogue that she didn’t notice Valentina until she quietly sat on the bench beside her. Juliana could tell something was wrong just by the way Valentina dropped on the seat and the heavy way she put her head on Juliana’s shoulder. Usually, Valentina would bounce next to her and wrap her in a hug that trapped her arms to her sides. Now it seemed that Valentina was the one who needed a hug.

Juliana was not used to giving or receiving affection from anyone who wasn’t her mother, but it was different with Valentina. It always had been. From the moment they’d properly met each other on _el Día de Muertos_ she’d happily received and returned the hugs Valentina had given so freely. Now Juliana didn’t hesitate to put an arm around Valentina and rest her cheek on top of Valentina’s head.

“ _Qué pasó?_ ” she asked when Valentina didn’t start speaking right away.

“My siblings are annoying,” Valentina mumbled. And then, “My dad’s not coming home until Christmas Eve.”

Juliana felt the hurt in Valentina’s voice squeeze at her own heart. Valentina had been so excited about spending Christmas break with her father.

“ _Lo siento._ ” Juliana didn’t know what else to say.

Valentina took a deep breath before speaking, her head still on Juliana’s shoulder. “I know he’s doing really important things. It’s just that… he’d promised.”

Juliana tightened her hold around Valentina.

“Maybe I’m just being selfish. What he’s doing will save people’s lives.”

Valentina had explained to Juliana what her dad was doing, but she didn’t completely understand it. She only knew that it had something to do with medicine and magical healing and that it was ‘ _very important’_. Juliana didn’t know if it was more important than being home with his kids, but then again she didn’t know how a dad should act. Her own father often disappeared for months on end, with no word to her and her mother. When he was home, he was rarely ever nice to her mother and was always angry at Juliana, often punishing her for the smallest mistakes. But Juliana did know one thing--

“You know, if it was me… I’d pick spending time with you over anything else.”

Valentina lifted her head off of Juliana’s shoulder. “You’re sweet,” she said. Her eyes were watery, but they were bright in a way her disposition hadn’t been a moment ago.

Juliana felt herself flush at the compliment. Still, she pressed, “It’s true.”

Valentina’s lips started turning up at the corners. “ _Gracias_ , Juls.”

Juliana let her hand slide up from Valentina’s back to her shoulder, playing with the strands of hair there. She felt like there were many things she should be saying, but everything was jumbled up in her head. She only knew that she didn’t ever want to see Valentina being anything but happy.

It was Valentina who spoke up again. “What were you doing?” she asked, looking down at the catalogue in Juliana’s hands.

Juliana understood then that Valentina wanted to be distracted.

“I was just looking for gift ideas for my classmate,” she said. “For the Secret Santa.”

Juliana already had presents for Jane and Lina. Valentina had even asked if she could give them something as well. She had only hung out with Jane and Lina twice, but Juliana was beginning to learn that Valentina just liked giving out presents, even to those she barely knew. So Juliana and Valentina had chipped in together for Jane’s and Lina’s presents. They’d gotten a couple of wizarding fiction books for Jane, which was Valentina’s idea, and a stylish purse for Lina, which was Juliana’s idea.

Valentina had also asked Juliana if she could give her a Christmas present. Juliana appreciated that Valentina had checked with her first, though they’d had a lively discussion on how much Valentina could spend. The amount they’d settled on was too much for Juliana, but Valentina had looked like she was about to start crying if Juliana hadn’t agreed to it, so she had relented.

Of course, Juliana had a present for Valentina too. She was almost done making it. She was both nervous and excited about giving it to Valentina. She hoped fervently that Valentina would like it.

Juliana folded up the shopping catalogue and put it in her robe pocket. She enjoyed coming up with gift ideas for her friends, but it was harder to think of something for someone she barely knew. And right now, Valentina needed cheering up.

“What do you wanna do?” she asked.

Valentina shrugged, tilting her head down. “Can we just sit here? I like this spot.”

“Okay,” Juliana said easily. She liked the spot too. She often used to sit on the bench by herself during her first few weeks at Ilvermorny, drawing on her sketchbook or observing the other students, who didn’t notice her because the spot was partly hidden by a tree.

That was before she and Valentina became friends. Now, Juliana was happy to go along with Valentina wherever she wanted to go.

Valentina looked up and smiled. “ _Gracias_.”

Her smile wasn’t quite as wide as it normally was, and Juliana wanted to change that. “Hey, guess what,” she said bracingly, “I finally got that Dancing Charm down.”

Valentina’s smile did widen at that. “Really?” she said, leaning forward and slapping her own lap in a display of excitement. “I’m so proud of you, Juls!”

Juliana hummed in confirmation before drawing out her wand from her pocket. “Watch this,” she pointed her wand at a twig on the ground and, with a clearly enunciated incantation, made it jump back and forth in front of them.

It looked silly enough that Valentina started giggling. She joined in and made it shake around. Soon enough, they were having a Charms battle with the twigs and pebbles on the ground. Valentina was winning because the only spells Juliana knew were the Dancing and the Levitation charms, but Juliana didn’t care as long as Valentina was laughing again.

Almost an hour later, Valentina was levitating the pebbles by herself, making them fly in different configurations while Juliana looked on in fascination even as she made suggestions for their formation.

“Valentina,” someone called out, interrupting them.

It was Eva, standing just a few feet away. Valentina cast _Finite_ on the pebbles, letting them fall to the ground. A few bounced around and hit Eva’s boots. Juliana swallowed nervously.

“I thought you--?” Eva began, but cut herself off and shook her head. She looked over at Juliana.

It was odd. In the few times that Juliana had been in Eva’s presence, Eva had always looked at her with a raised eyebrow or barely even looked at her at all. Now there was something almost _friendly_ in Eva’s expression.

Eva turned back to Valentina. “Look, Val, can we talk about your holiday plans? Christmas break starts this Saturday, and we need to send Chivis word on whether she needs to prepare for your arrival soon or not.”

Valentina let out a huff, her smile gone. “Fine.”

Eva’s eyes flicked to Juliana, who knew how to take a hint. She stood up. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Valentina’s head snapped up at Juliana; she gave her a small pout.

“I’ll wait for you in the common room, okay?” Juliana said.

“Okay,” Valentina said, resigned.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

“ _Gracias_ , Juliana,” Eva said as they passed by each other.

Juliana looked up at her in surprise. She had no idea Eva even remembered her name, or why she was thanking her. Not knowing what to say, she just gave Eva an awkward smile and waved at Valentina before leaving the sisters to talk by themselves.

*

After her talk with Eva, Valentina decided that the best thing to do was to stay at Ilvermorny with Eva for the week before Christmas. She would have liked to go watch Quidditch games with Guille, but she didn’t feel completely comfortable with his friends, who were all older boys. She didn’t want to go home without her dad and siblings there either. She did miss Chivis, Alirio, and the rest of the household staff, but it wasn’t the same.

That morning Valentina had been looking forward to the Christmas break, only regretting the fact that she wouldn’t be able to see Juliana every day until school started again. Now she wished that the break wouldn’t start at all. She just knew it was going to be the worst Christmas ever.

#### 2

Juliana agonised over the decision for a night and the better part of a day, but three days before the start of Christmas break, she found herself in Ilvermorny’s Telephone Room making a call to her mother. She wanted to ask if she could postpone going home for one more week. She really missed her mom, but she could not stand the thought of Valentina being by herself in Ilvermorny. All of Valentina’s other friends and classmates would be going home that Saturday. Eva would be around, but Valentina didn’t want to bother her because she was intending to focus on her schoolwork.

First, however, Juliana needed to be certain that Lupé would be fine without her on the week before Christmas. If Lupé put up a big argument over it, Juliana knew she wouldn’t be able to say no to her.

However, her mother’s response surprised her.

“That might be for the best, _mija_ ,” said Lupé.

“ _Qué? Neta?_ ” Juliana had hoped that her mother would agree to her plans, but she’d expected a little bit of resistance.

Lupé had sounded distant. If Juliana didn’t know any better, she would blame the long-distance phone call, but she’d called Lupé many times before and she’d always sounded so warm then. Juliana suspected the worst.

Lupé was quick to confirm it. “Your dad’s here.”

“ _Qué?_ ” Juliana asked warily. Chino hadn’t been home since before Juliana started at Ilvermorny. “ _Cuando--?_ ”

“He arrived last weekend.”

“Did you tell him about me?” Juliana asked.

Chino had been gone for a couple of months when Professor Borges came to their trailer in San Antonio to inform Juliana that she was a witch, explaining all the strange things that had often happened around her. He did not know that she was magical.

“No,” Lupé replied. “Oh, I don’t know how he would take that, Juli,” she said, sounding distressed. “It’s probably best if we never told him.”

Juliana agreed with her, but she had other concerns. “ _Mami_ ,” she said, worried, “I should go home early, then.” It tore at her, knowing that Valentina would be alone on the week before Christmas, but Lupé had to deal with Chino. Juliana needed to be there with her.

“No!” Lupé said abruptly. “I mean… no, _mija_ ,” she softened her voice. “It sounds like your friend needs you. And your dad-- he… he seems happier… kinder, without-- I mean, it felt just like before….”

Lupé trailed off, but Juliana understood what she wasn’t saying. “Oh,” was Juliana’s only response.

Lupé had sometimes told her about what a kind and charming young man Chino had been before they’d moved to the USA, before Juliana had been born. It seemed that Chino was simply happier without Juliana around, and he was Lupé’s top priority. She knew her mother loved her, but Lupé loved her husband more. It was a fact that Juliana had accepted long ago.

“Juli?” Lupé ventured after a few minutes of silence. “Are you still there?”

“ _Sí m-ma_.” Juliana swallowed before continuing. “So it’s okay then?” she asked, feigning cheeriness in her voice. “I can stay here?”

“ _Sí_ , Juli,” said Lupé. “I hope-- I hope you enjoy your week with your friend.”

They ended the call shortly after that.

Thinking of Valentina’s dad and her own mother, Juliana wondered why parents were the way they were. She headed back to the common room, where Valentina was waiting for her. She’d been doubting it before the call, but Juliana knew now that she’d made the right decision.

“ _Neta?_ ” Valentina asked, cautiously excited, after Juliana told her that she’d be staying for one more week at Ilvermorny. “ _Juls, neta?_ ”

“ _Sí,_ ” said Juliana, smiling fondly at Valentina’s reaction.

“But... what about your mom?”

“She’s--” Juliana cleared her throat, “she’s going to be taking longer hours at work next week, because of the holidays. She wouldn’t be home too much until, like, Christmas Eve anyway.”

She didn’t tell Valentina about Chino being back, because it would mean telling her the truth. As far as Valentina -- and Jane and Lina -- knew, Chino had left Juliana and her mother when she was a kid. She’d had classmates in grade school who had been left by their dads for other families, and she’d often wished that Chino would do the same. It would have been better than having him come back every few months to terrorise her and her mother. The worst thing about him being around had been her mom transforming into a completely different person, meek and submissive to all his whims.

Valentina gave her a pout. “ _Lo siento,_ ” she said. “ _Pero Juls,_ are you sure? You’re not just staying here because of me?”

She was, or at least that was her initial reason, but, “I’m sure, Val.”

Valentina let out a squeal, which caught the attention of the other students in the common room, but neither of them noticed or cared. Valentina threw her arms around Juliana, and Juliana sank into the embrace, happy that Valentina wanted her company.

###### Notes:

Floo Glass = like the Two-Way Mirror, but more advanced. It'll be explained more in a later chapter. I named it "Floo Glass" because the "Floo" is kind of a magical network, and it sounds like "Foe Glass"

The Ilvermorny Telephone Room was introduced in previous fics. I just thought it would be useful for Muggle-borns to have a spot at the school where they could phone home. Harry & company's generation (Gen X) probably didn't need it, but Muggle communication has advanced by leaps and bounds in the generations after theirs.

CATs = the magical world equivalent of the USA's SATs. I didn't go with Hogwarts' OWLs and NEWTs since those are based on the UK's GCSEs and A-Levels. Take a guess what CATs means :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **HP Canon**  
>  \- A common form of magical transportation is through the _Floo Network_ , which is accessible through fireplaces.

Ilvermorny’s Entrance Hall was the picture of organised chaos. Groups of students were queuing up to the large fireplaces along either side of the Hall, waiting for their turn to transport to their intended destinations. Several teachers and prefects, voices amplified by the _Sonorus Charm_ , tried to maintain order above the excited chatter of students discussing their holiday plans.

Valentina stood in line for one of the fireplaces with Sergio and Nayeli. She was not leaving Ilvermorny just yet, but she was seeing her friends off. They would be travelling by Floo together to a Transport Station in Mexico, where large wardrobes were the common Floo Network hubs instead of fireplaces like in the colder climates.

Lucho was with them. Sergio was talking to him, but he kept trying to catch Valentina’s attention over the other boy’s shoulder. Valentina studiously ignored him and instead focused on her conversation with Nayeli, who was talking about her family’s plan to go to France over the holidays.

Truth be told, Valentina did miss talking to Lucho a little. They were both in Ilvermorny’s Dueling Club and he had been her frequent sparring partner, but she’d stopped attending meetings after falling out with him. Besides that, Lucho was the only other person apart from Guille with whom she liked discussing Quidditch. Sergio liked Quidditch too, but his opinions about gameplay and tactics were dumb. Even right now, Sergio was saying something ridiculous about the Fitchburg Finches while Lucho kept glancing at Valentina.

Valentina and Lucho had often fallen out. Both of them were so used to getting their own way that they were bound to butt heads from time to time. Neither one of them had ever apologised to the other, both too proud to do so. All their previous fights had simply been pushed aside like broken items in a messy storage closet.

However, the reason for their falling out now could not be so easily dismissed. Every time Valentina remembered what Lucho said to Juliana, she just wanted to curse him five ways into next year.

Soon enough, they reached the end of the queue. Lucho threw a handful of Floo Powder into the fireplace, making its flames rise up and glow bright green. Sergio and Nayeli bid Valentina goodbye with hugs and promises to keep in touch before piling into the large fireplace after Lucho. With one last glance at Valentina, Lucho called out their destination, and all three of them were swallowed by a roar of flames, to be transported back home to Mexico.

Valentina stepped away from the fireplace as the flames returned to its original orange-yellow colour and another group of students walked up for their turn. A small part of her was envious of her friends, knowing they’d have their whole family waiting for them back in Mexico. Sergio had invited her to stay with his family for the week before Christmas. Valentina was grateful for his offer, but she preferred to spend part of her holidays with Juliana if she couldn’t spend it with her whole family.

At that thought, Valentina went over to where Juliana was standing with Jane and Lina. They were in another queue, waiting for Jane and Lina’s turn to take the Floo home; Juliana was seeing off her friends too.

“Hey,” Valentina called out.

Juliana returned her greeting with a smile and a soft, “Hi,” which Valentina took as invitation to put an arm around Juliana’s shoulders. Juliana reached up to hold her hand, keeping Valentina’s arm firmly around her.

Valentina broke into a wide smile, her spirits lifting up.

Jane and Lina, who were standing several inches apart, smiled bemusedly at the two of them. Valentina turned to the two best friends and exchanged greetings with them. Valentina hadn’t really hung out with Jane and Lina, but she liked them well enough.

“Hey Valentina, thank you for my present,” Jane said, in English. “Juliana said it was from the both of you.”

“Yeah, thanks for mine, too,” Lina piped up. “I’m excited to see what it is, but I’ll wait to open it until Christmas.”

“Oh, I hope you’ll like them,” Valentina replied, also in English. She knew that Jane can speak Spanish and Lina can understand it, but they were both more fluent in English and, anyway, Valentina was used to speaking in English to most of the other students in Ilvermorny.

“I’m sure we will,” Jane said. “I’m sorry we didn’t get you anything.”

“What?” said Valentina. “No, I-- Juls was asking me for gift ideas and I wanted to give you guys presents too, so we decided to just chip in on it. I hope that’s okay,” she added worriedly, thinking of how Juliana had gotten mad when she’d surprised her with an art set. She just enjoyed giving gifts to people she liked; in fact, she’d been giving Christmas presents to all of her roommates ever since their first year.

“Are you kidding?” said Lina. “Of course it’s okay. And thank you again!”

Valentina nodded, but it wasn’t until Juliana gave her hand a reassuring pat that she relaxed. Jane started to speak, but her attention was caught by something behind Valentina. She turned around to see her brother approaching them. He was carrying a duffel bag, clearly ready to leave.

“Vale, _ahí estás_ ,” said Guille, adjusting the bag on his shoulder. “ _No vas a despedirse de tu hermano_?” he added with an air of feigned hurt that Valentina wasn’t seeing him off.

“Oh, _callate_ ,” Valentina whined, pushing at his arm. “I’m pretty sure you just got down here.”

Guille chuckled, caught. “My friends and I are waiting in line over there,” he said, nodding towards the other side of the Entrance Hall. “Will you _please_ come see me off.”

Valentina rolled her eyes playfully at his over-the-top pleading. As if she would let him go without saying goodbye.

She turned to Juliana, arm still slung around her shoulders. “I’ll meet you up there?” she asked, motioning towards the balcony that overlooked the Entrance Hall. It was accessible through two sets of stairs on either side of the hall and was connected to a large passage that led to the Great Hall. They were going to get breakfast after seeing everyone off.

“Sure,” said Juliana. Hand still in Valentina’s, she leaned forward to look around her. “ _Buen viaje,_ Guille _._ ”

“ _Gracias,_ ” Guille said, smiling. “ _Vemos el próximo año,_ ” he added, to which Juliana nodded. Not knowing Jane and Lina, he gave them an awkward, “Bye, guys,” in English before turning back to Valentina.

Guille’s expectant look prompted Valentina to finally let go of Juliana. She said her goodbyes to Jane and Lina, the latter of whom was blushing, before starting towards the other side of the Entrance Hall with Guille. She turned back to mouth a “ _Vemos,_ ” at Juliana, who gave a cute little wave. Beside her, Lina had begun fanning herself with one hand while Jane laughed. Valentina sent a questioning look towards Juliana, who responded with a shrug.

“Vale,” Guille began as he led them to a quiet spot in the Entrance Hall, near the huge double doors that led outside. “Are you sure you’ll be fine here?”

“ _Sí,_ ” she reassured him. “Juls is staying here too.”

Guille blinked. This seemed like news to him. “Really? Does she not-- I mean, is she staying for the holidays, then? You should invite her to our house for Christmas.”

Valentina smiled at her brother’s ready acceptance of her friend. “No, she’s just staying here for the week. She’ll be going home to Texas for Christmas, her mom’s there.”

“Oh, I see,” Guille said, his brows furrowing in thought. He craned his neck over the crowd of students to get another look at Juliana.

Valentina knew he was thinking the same thing she was, that Juliana was staying back just for her. She had checked with Juliana multiple times if she was certain about staying at Ilvermorny for one more week instead of going home to her mom, but Juliana had gotten progressively more reticent every time she’d asked so Valentina had decided to drop it, not wanting to get into another fight.

Guille was looking hesitant now, and Valentina knew he was thinking of staying too. She had no doubts that he would stay if she really asked.

“Don’t worry about me, _hermanito_ ,” she said, interrupting his thoughts. “Go see those Quidditch games with your friends, I know you guys have been planning this for months. In fact, I would be very disappointed in you if you don’t go, because your plans are awesome, no matter what Eva says. She only hates Quidditch because she’s a terrible flyer.”

Guille laughed at that. His friends called him over then; it was almost their turn on the Floo. He motioned for Valentina to walk with him towards the queue.

“So, what do you and Juliana plan to do here all week?” he asked. “You’ll have the Pukwudgie common room almost all to yourselves, don’t go making anything else explode alright,” he added with a snicker.

Valentina rolled her eyes at the reminder of the toaster explosion incident. She and Juliana had attempted to clean the kitchen the Muggle way, but it had been an impossible task and they had ended up falling asleep in the common room. The sixth-year Pukwudgie prefect had found them sleeping on the couches the following morning, the kitchen still layered with black dust. Mateo, the prefect, had had to give them detention, but he’d been nice enough to downplay the incident to Eva.

“We haven’t thought of anything specific,” Valentina said, shrugging. “We might go flying.”

“You can’t go flying _all week_ , Vale,” Guille said with a chuckle.

Valentina wanted to say, _“Try me,”_ but she knew Juliana would probably want to do something else. “Well, Professor Borges is staying here until next week, and she’s taking some students to the Muggle town down the valley. Juliana and I are joining that.”

Professor Borges had organised the outing for the Muggle Studies students who were staying over at Ilvermorny for the holidays, but everyone else was welcome to join. Valentina was very excited about the trip; she hoped the town had a big bookstore.

“That’s good,” Guille said with an approving nod. “Does Eva know about your plans?”

Valentina rolled her eyes, but, “Yeah. Professor Borges said I had to tell Eva, and that she’d talk to her about it, too.” Valentina didn’t see the need for it. She was thirteen, not six; she could make her own decisions.

They joined Guille’s friends just in time for them to reach the end of the queue. Valentina said goodbye to Guille, standing on her tiptoes to give him a tight hug. He kissed her cheek and promised to be home by Christmas Eve before climbing into the fireplace with his friends. One of them cried out their destination, and Guille and his friends were gone in a roar of green flames.

Valentina was sad about Guille leaving, but she had no time to dwell on it. Juliana was already on the balcony, leaning against the balustrade and waving at Valentina, who giggled at the adorable sight. Juliana was short enough that the balustrade came up almost to her chest. 

Valentina hurried to join Juliana, pushing past the crowd of students to get to one of the staircases that led up to the balcony. She took the steps two at a time and strode over to Juliana.

“Hi,” she said, stopping right in front of her.

“Hi,” Juliana replied, pushing off the balustrade and turning to face Valentina so they were standing almost toe-to-toe.

They dissolved into inexplicable giggles and looked away from each other.

Valentina turned her gaze down to the Entrance Hall. There was still a crowd of students waiting for their turn to take the Floo. She could see the prefects, Eva and Mateo among them, ushering other students to keep to their places in the queues. Professor Borges was in the crowd too, going from one end of the room to the next as she talked to a few students. As far as Valentina could tell, they were all Muggle-born students, so Professor Borges was probably making sure they had everything they needed, the same way she always did with Juliana.

Valentina turned back to Juliana. “ _Vámonos?_ ”

“ _Va,_ ” Juliana replied, nodding.

They turned away from the crowd of noisy students and, reaching for each other’s hand, made their way towards the Great Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: I used to be weirdly obsessed with Quidditch even though it's a fictional sport with rules that don't make sense. This fic will have _a lot_ of Quidditch references.
> 
> Shout out to [kiarcheo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo), [lyl_i_am](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyl_i_am/pseuds/lyl_i_am), and [aydenjett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aydenjett/pseuds/aydenjett) (songayes) for being awesome sounding boards about fic ideas, not just this one. Also shout out to randomregularmd on Tumblr for the moral support :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the interest of not rambling too much, I'll only explain the more obscure bits of HP Canon -- though I trust that a lot of people still know the so-called 'obscure' bits.
> 
> MACUSA -- the magical government in the USA

Professor Lucía Borges, Ilvermorny’s Muggle Studies teacher, twisted around on her seat at the front of the bus to check on her students for what must be the hundredth time that morning. They were on their way to the town at the foot of Mount Greylock for a whole day’s outing. She was staying at Ilvermorny over the holidays and she had thought it would be a good idea to take interested students out to see what a Muggle town was really like. It was a diversion she wanted to offer to the students who had stayed behind for the holidays.

Lucía had gotten the requisite permission from the school, but she couldn’t help but worry about looking after a dozen students on a trip that wasn’t exactly part of her curriculum. She reassured herself with the fact that she had another teacher with her, as well as two seventh-year Muggle-born students who had graciously agreed to help chaperone the outing. Still, Lucía turned around to check on the students once again.

They were all wearing Muggle clothes for the occasion, in varying degrees of appropriateness. Most of them were in jeans and puffy jackets, though some were obviously transfigured from robes, but a few of the older students were only wearing shirts. They wanted to show off the Muggle designs on their shirts, insisting that they would simply cast Warming Charms instead of wearing jackets over them. The drawings were of common Muggle things, like a car and a laptop, and one student’s shirt simply read _‘Electricity!’_ but the other students were sufficiently awed and envious.

They all seemed very excited, chattering loudly in groups. Some are kneeling on their seats, facing the other way around so they could talk to those sitting behind them. A couple of students were even walking about, clearly pumped up for the day.

Lucía chose not to reprimand them. The bus they were on was a magical one, running too fast and making everything jump out of its way, but its enchantments made sure that none of its passengers could ever be seriously injured. Most of the students were unfazed by the speed of the bus, but Lucía saw that Juliana Valdés, the only first year in the group, had gone pale.

Lucía grimaced, cursing herself for forgetting that Juliana wouldn’t have had any experience with magical buses. She’d been the one to introduce Juliana to the magical world by way of getting her school supplies, but they’d always taken the Floo Network then. Unfortunately, the Muggle town they would be visiting didn’t have a Floo Station, so Lucía had had to arrange for a bus. Lucía would go to Juliana to give comfort or reassurance, but Valentina Carvajal seemed to have it well in hand.

Literally, Valentina was holding Juliana’s hand in both of hers while saying things that were making her laugh.

Lucía smiled at the two young girls. Their friendship, while not a huge shock after the fact, was certainly unexpected. Valentina was in her third year and had often hung around with the rich, pure-blood students whose families probably owned the whole of magical Mexico between themselves, as well as some of Latin America. Juliana was a quiet first year Muggle-born whose family lived in a trailer that was smaller than most of the classrooms in Ilvermorny. Lucía had no idea how their friendship came about, but she was glad for it. Valentina seemed to bring Juliana out of her shell, while Juliana seemed to calm Valentina down somewhat. 

Satisfied that the students were fine, Lucía settled back on her seat and faced forward. Witnessing Valentina being her usual sweet self reminded Lucía of the girl’s sister, who was anything but. The conversation she’d had with Eva Carvajal about Valentina going on this Muggle day trip had been rather difficult.

Eva had dropped Muggle Studies last year, the same year Lucía had started teaching at Ilvermorny. It meant that Eva had never been Lucía’s student; she’d certainly never seemed to consider Lucía as a teacher. The fact that Lucía was only a few years older than her didn’t help.

Eva had demanded an explanation as to why Lucía needed to contact León Carvajal. When Lucía had explained that she needed the parents’ permission to take students on the outing she was organising, Eva had said that their father was too busy and that _her_ permission would be enough. Lucía hadn’t wanted to press the matter further, so she had resolved to keep an eye on Valentina so as to not draw the wrath of the Carvajal patriarch if something ever happened to his youngest daughter.

With that thought, Lucía turned around again to check on the students. Valentina and Juliana were now playing what looked like a game of slapsies. Valentina tentatively put her hands on top of Juliana’s, while Juliana tried to catch her off guard so she could slap Valentina’s hand. They were giggling the whole time, joy evident on their faces.

Lucía couldn’t help but recall her own days as a student at Camaxhual, the magic school in Mexico. Like Juliana, she was a Muggle-born who didn’t come from the best family background; unlike Juliana, she’d never had someone like Valentina. She couldn’t help but think that her school life would have been easier if she’d had a friend who would hold her hand so securely if she was feeling anxious, or one who would willingly stay at school over the holidays to keep her company. That had been her own fault, however. She’d let herself get drawn to the wrong people, and--

The bus came to an abrupt halt, drawing out cries of surprise from some of the students and interrupting Lucía’s thoughts. She shook her head, drawing a concerned glance from the other professor. She gave him a reassuring smile in reply and stood up, reminding the students about the buddy system they’d agreed upon at the start of the trip.

The students complied quickly. Some of the Muggle Studies students paired up among themselves; others had brought friends along and chose to buddy up with them; one student had brought his girlfriend and the couple were already holding hands. Valentina paired up with Juliana, naturally; she had an arm draped over the other girl’s shoulders while Juliana held on to her hand with both of hers.

The bus had stopped in front of a shopping centre and the students all piled excitedly out of it once Lucía gave them the go-ahead. The seventh-year Muggle born students who had agreed to help her chaperone the trip led the fray, while the other professor kept a watchful eye from the rear. Lucía thanked the bus driver and confirmed the pick-up time with him before hurrying up after the others.

“Hey, thank you for inviting me to come, Lucía,” said Professor Andrew Goldstein. “This is all rather...” he looked around the shopping centre, with its many and varied eye-catching Christmas displays, all put up the Muggle way, “interesting.”

“Thank you for agreeing to help chaperone the students,” Lucía replied. Andrew was a pure-blood, as far as Lucía knew, but he was at least more responsible than a couple of seventeen year-olds.

Ahead of them, Sam and Raven, the seventh-year Muggle-born students, were gleefully leading the way to a toy store. The others looked around in amazement at the displays once they entered the shop. Lucía was not surprised to see Juliana mirroring the pure-blood students’ expressions. She knew that Juliana’s home life would not have given her a lot of opportunities to visit toy stores.

“You know, you’d make a good Auror,” Andrew said after several minutes.

“What?” said Lucía, tearing her eyes away from Valentina and Juliana. Valentina had knocked over a stuffed toy of what looked like a sleeping bear that was larger than an adult human, and the two girls were struggling to put it back. Lucía, not wanting to hover, was restraining herself from going over to help them.

“Watchful eye,” Andrew replied, nodding his head towards the students.

Andrew was from the United Kingdom and had studied at Hogwarts. He was too young to have been part of the student resistance during Voldemort’s Reign of Terror across the pond, but he’d trained as an Auror under those who did before coming to Ilvermorny to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Lucía suspected that he was interested in her, so she was uncertain whether his words were a genuine compliment or his way of flirting.

Before she could say anything about it, the stuffed bear, which Valentina and Juliana had succeeded in putting back to its standing position, toppled over once again, taking both girls along with it. Lucía strode quickly towards them, Andrew right behind her, even as the girls rolled to either side of the bear, giggling the whole time.

Valentina and Juliana were already on their feet by the time Lucía reached them. They seemed none the worse for their little accident, but one of the shop assistants were looking at them askance. Valentina tried to look contrite when she saw the adults’ attention on them, but she couldn’t seem to control her grin to save her life. On the other hand, Juliana’s expression quickly turned apologetic, fearful even.

While Andrew righted the stuffed bear and apologised to the shop attendant, Lucía caught Juliana’s eye and gave her a reassuring smile. Lucía knew what it was like to expect punishment at the smallest mistake; she didn’t want Juliana to feel that, not if she could help it.

“Erm, perhaps we should move on to another shop?” Andrew said, eyeing something over Lucía’s shoulder.

Lucía turned around to see some of the older students playing with a large toy gun. “Yes, that’s probably for the best.”

With Andrew’s help, Lucía ushered the students out of the toy store, ignoring several cries of protest. Lucía put a hand on Juliana’s shoulder as they were exiting, making sure that the young girl could see her intentions before she did so. She squeezed, earning a pinched smile from Juliana.

Valentina tugged at Juliana’s hand, drawing the girl’s attention. “Juls,” she began, concern written all over her face, “ _estas bien?_ ”

Juliana looked up at Lucía, who smiled at her again, before turning back to Valentina. The two girls seemed to exchange a moment’s wordless conversation, Valentina tilting her head to the side.

Juliana’s expression cleared then. “ _Sí, Val,_ ” she replied, her head bobbing in affirmation as she gave Valentina a genuine smile, which prompted the other girl to bounce on her feet.

Lucía smiled at their interaction, hoping the two friends would never drift apart as they grew older.

“I wish our Muggle Studies teacher brought us to these kinds of trips,” Andrew said to Lucía. After the toy shop, they had gone to an electronics store to the amazement of the pure-blood kids. They had just left said store and were now leisurely looking through the shop windows, which look like they were in a competition for the flashiest holiday decor.

Lucía hummed, taking a moment to observe the students in front of them. “If all schools actually hired Muggle-borns to teach Muggle Studies, students would learn legitimate things about the Muggle world.”

“The Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts now is Muggle-born, you know,” said Andrew, sounding defensive. “Not when I was a student, though,” he admitted ruefully.

“Well, I suppose that’s another thing Ilvermorny has over Hogwarts,” Lucía replied. She didn’t really care about school rivalries, but Andrew was always so annoyingly superior about Hogwarts that she enjoyed enumerating ways as to why Ilvermorny was better, no matter that she didn’t believe them. “It has hired Muggle-borns to the Muggle Studies post for the past few decades.”

Andrew scoffed. “It’s all well and good for Ilvermorny to hire Muggle-born teachers, but the MACUSA still forces us to hold Muggle-born students’ wands hostage when they have to go home on breaks. That law’s outdated, I don’t know why it hasn’t been scrapped. It’s been proven that school-aged children are more prone to accidental magic if they don’t have their wands with them.”

“Oh, I won’t argue with you there,” said Lucía. “I think the MACUSA might be the only magical government that requires schools to keep the students’ wands on breaks. We certainly don’t have that back in _Mexico_ ,” she added. “And as for accidental magic without wands, that only applies to children educated under European systems.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Native American schools here teach wandless, nature-based magic,” Lucía pointed out. “And Camaxhual in Mexico has a mandatory subject on it from first to seventh year. Children educated under non-European systems are far better at controlling their magic without wands.”

“Wait-- _wandless_ magic?”

Before Lucía could reply, she noticed Valentina leading Juliana by the hand towards the front of their group. Valentina said something to the seventh-year Muggle-borns that Lucía couldn’t hear, but she pointed towards a clothing shop nearby, making her intentions clear. The seventh-years looked towards the shop and had a brief discussion, during which Lucía and Andrew joined them. They decided that anyone who was interested could check out the clothing shop while the rest could stay outside or check out nearby shops. Valentina and Juliana went with the first group, holding hands as they followed Lucía inside the shop.

Lucía watched as Valentina and Juliana strode towards a rack of ladies’ clothing, this time with Juliana taking the lead. Curious, Lucía approached them.

“ _Hola niñas_ ,” she said, knowing both girls speak Spanish. “What are you looking for?”

Juliana and Valentina looked at each other. Valentina gave a one-shouldered shrug; Juliana let go of the dress she was inspecting and turned to Lucía.

“I’m, uh...” Juliana started, hedging, “I’m looking for a gift for my mom, Professor.”

Lucía couldn’t stop her eyebrows from rising at that. She’d called Juliana’s mom only a few days ago to get her permission to let Juliana join their outing. Lupé Valdés had agreed readily, but she’d also sounded rather remorseful and, without prompting, had admitted to Lucía about Juliana sending all of her allowance money home. Lucía had tried to apologise for not noticing what Juliana had been doing, but Lupé had waved it away, telling Lucía that she’d put a stop to it. It seemed, however, that Juliana had found other ways to give things to her mom.

Something of her thought process must have reflected on Lucía’s face, because Juliana added, “It’s for Christmas. And it’s _my_ allowance.”

There was a stubborn set to the young girl’s jaw. Lucía did not even think of arguing the point, it was indeed Juliana’s money to do with however she pleased. Besides, she knew what it felt like to want to take care of a mother who was also one’s only family, no matter how imperfect they were.

“Of course,” Lucía said calmly. “ _Bueno_ , do you need any help?”

“Oh!” Valentina exclaimed, jumping in the conversation. “Maybe you could try on the clothes, Professor? What do you think, Juls?” she turned to the other girl. “Is Professor Borges about the same size as your mom?”

Juliana shyly looked Lucía up and down. “Uhm, well… my mom is taller, and--” she flushed, clearing her throat before continuing, “but yeah, you’re almost the same size. But you don’t have to, Professor, I’m sure I can guess my mom’s size.”

“Juliana, I would love to help,” said Lucía. “I love trying on clothes.” Pointing at the dress the girl had been holding, she asked, “Would you like me to fit that?”

“No, I need to look a bit more,” said Juliana. “But… thank you, Professor,” she added earnestly while Valentina echoed her enthusiastically.

The next half-hour consisted of Lucía going to and from the fitting room, trying on clothes that Juliana had picked out. Lucía prided herself in her fashion sense and she was particular about the clothes she wore so, for all her willingness to help, she had been rather apprehensive about trying on something chosen by an eleven year old. Her fears were unfounded, however. While Juliana only chose items from the discount rack, she mixed and matched them in such a way that the end result was something Lucía would love to wear herself.

Sometime between the second and third fitting, Valentina disappeared and came back with a pair of earrings that she presented to Juliana.

“What do you think of this?” Valentina asked the younger girl.

Juliana’s brows furrowed as she looked down at the earrings in her friend’s hand. “Val, no… not--”

“But you said I could get something small for your mom too,” Valentina protested, almost whining.

“Not small _small_ ,” Juliana said patiently. “Small _cheap_ , like a scarf or something.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” said Valentina, her expression clearing. “I’ll be right back.”

After Valentina had gone, Juliana’s eyes flickered up to Lucía, who had been watching the girls’ exchange with amusement.

“She insisted on getting something for my mom, too,” said Juliana. “I don’t know _why_ , but we already agreed on chipping in for my friends’ presents and Val said it was the same thing. It isn’t _exactly_ the same thing because at least she knows Jane and Lina, but she-- she seems to really like giving presents to people.”

It was the longest and fastest Lucía had heard Juliana talk without stopping. “Valentina gave Christmas presents to all her Muggle Studies classmates,” Lucía told Juliana. “And, I wasn’t at Ilvermorny yet for this, but Professor Henson--” she meant the Head of House Pukwudgie, “--told me that she’d had to expressly forbid Valentina from giving gifts to her teaches, as that could be taken as bribery.”

Juliana gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, that sounds like Val. She-- she’s _amazing_ ,” she breathed. The disbelief that she had Valentina as a friend was evident in her expression.

“She is,” Lucía agreed. “And you deserve friends like that, Juliana. People who are kind, and who care about you.”

Juliana looked away, bringing her hand up to worry her fingertips with her teeth, clearly uncomfortable.

“I think this is it,” Lucía said as she looked at herself in the mirror, changing the topic for Juliana’s sake. The young girl had chosen a purple floral dress and a sash that she’d asked Lucía to tie around her waist. The result was a simple but beautiful style that could be worn to a number of different occasions. “This looks really good Juliana. I’m sure your mother would love it. You have a great eye for clothes.”

Juliana flushed, clearly struggling with a response. She was saved from saying something by a scarf that landed squarely on top of her, covering her from head to shoulders. Valentina appeared behind her, giggling mischievously. Juliana pulled the offending item off of her and started giggling too.

“What about that?” asked Valentina.

Juliana looked at the scarf’s price tag, then held it at arm’s length to get a better view of the item itself. “Yeah, this is perfect.” She looked at Valentina. “ _Gracias_ , Val.”

Valentina only shrugged and gave a lopsided smile, which Juliana returned. The two girls stared at each other so softly that Lucía felt like she was intruding.

After a moment, they broke their staring contest.

Valentina turned to Lucía. “Wow! You look beautiful, Professor,” she started gushing. “That looks beautiful.” She turned Juliana. “You are so talented, Juls. You’re like… the most talented person I know. You’re _amazing_.”

Juliana was now truly blushing in earnest. “Val,” she said, almost whining. “No…”

Lucía could only laugh at the two of them.

As suggested by Sam and Raven, the Muggle-born seventh years who were helping Lucía chaperone the trip, they went to a pizza place for lunch. Their group commandeered several tables and joined them together, quickly devolving into a cacophony of laughter and excited chatter about the things they’d seen at the shopping centre. Lucía had to cast a blanket Muffling Charm over their group, ensuring that their strange conversations about magic and Muggle technology would not be overheard by the restaurant’s other patrons.

After the lively lunch, Lucía led the group to the cinemas. She’d shown her students a couple of films, borrowing Ilvermorny’s Telephone Room for a few hours so they could use electronic devices without magical interference. Now they entered the movie theatre with great anticipation, and exited a little over two hours later gushing about clocks and automatons as well as movie-making magic, of the kind that was purely metaphorical.

It was midafternoon by then, but they had some time before the bus would arrive to bring them back to Ilvermorny. Lucía told the students that they could use that time to explore the town centre by themselves, provided that they were accompanied by herself, Andrew, or one of the Muggle-born seventh-years. Sam and Raven suggested the video game arcade and most of the group went with them; some wanted to walk around the town and check out the various Christmas instalments so Andrew volunteered to go with them; Valentina wanted to go to a bookstore, Juliana sticking with her, and Lucía took it upon herself to look after the youngest members of their group.

The two girls held hands as they headed towards the store, swinging their arms from time to time; Valentina even skipped once or twice. Lucía walked behind them in a less energetic manner.

Valentina immediately went for the shelves when they entered the bookshop. She’d read Muggle fiction books, lent to her by a Muggle-born classmate, but she’d never been to a Muggle bookstore before. She described the plot of some of the Muggle books to Juliana as they browsed the stacks, Lucía noting the irony of a pure-blood witch explaining Muggle stories to a Muggle-born.

Valentina’s excited rambling drew the attention of the store’s owner, a grey-haired lady with a kind smile who graciously told the girls that they could read anything they wanted as long as they don’t take it out of the premises. The girls took that offer to heart. Valentina picked a book with an interesting cover -- black with a golden bird symbol -- from the Young Adult section before leading Juliana to the far shelves, where they sat on the floor side by side and started reading together.

Lucía left the girls to their book and tried to thank the shop owner, who waved it away and said that she was only too happy to see kids reading. Lucía ended up chatting with the older lady, telling her that they were from out of town and were just passing by; technically, it was true. The other woman regaled her with stories about the town, stories that bordered on the bizarre to Muggle ears. Lucía knew better, however. The town was close enough to Ilvermorny that it was often unknowing witness to actual magic.

Soon enough, it was time to go. Valentina brought the book they’d been reading up to the till along with two others.

“The whole set?” the shop owner asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” said Valentina. “I really like it, and I don’t know when--” she cut herself off, biting her lip. “I mean… yes please.”

The owner looked bemused but said, “Well, I won’t stop you.”

Valentina casually produced a thick wad of crisp dollar bills from her pocket. Lucía had told the students that they didn’t need more than the equivalent of twenty Galleons if they wanted to buy Muggle items during their outing, but Eva Carvajal had insisted on having Valentina bring the equivalent of fifty. Juliana looked uncomfortable with the amount of money Valentina was carrying, but she helped the other girl out and put two twenties on the counter. She also prompted Valentina to put her money back in her pocket when the other girl absent-mindedly waved it around like it was a pad of paper.

The shop owner, whose eyebrows had almost disappeared beyond her hairline, took the money and turned to Lucía as she registered the sale. “Where did you say you were from again?”

Lucía hadn’t told her, but she knew being coy would raise more suspicion. She thought quickly. “Mexico.”

“Ah,” said the other woman, her expression clearing, seemingly rationalising Valentina’s money with their foreignness. “Well, enjoy your books, young lady,” she said, handing Valentina her purchases. “Did you know this will have a movie next year?”

Valentina and Juliana’s loud chorus of “ _Qué???”_ certainly lent credence to Lucía’s explanation that they were from Mexico. On the other hand, Valentina’s follow-up question of, “Books can have movies?” made the owner narrow her eyes in confusion.

Thankfully, Andrew chose that time to show up and tell them that their bus had arrived, saving Lucía from further interrogation.

The ride back to Ilvermorny was a more reserved affair than that morning’s trip from the school. Despite everyone’s excited energy throughout the day, or rather because of it, the students were now quiet in their seats, some talking softly but most on the verge of falling asleep.

Juliana no longer seemed to care about the speed with which the bus was going, though she might simply be too tired to mind. She was sitting with her head against the back of her seat, leaning and looking towards Valentina, who was reading out loud from her new book.

Satisfied, Lucía turned away from the students and looked out to the front.

Ahead, Ilvermorny Castle started to appear before everyone’s eyes. The large gates stood looming, their gordian knot design gleaming even in the growing dark. The castle’s towers and turrets rose behind the gates, imposing but mismatched, evidence of its gradual and unplanned construction.

The bus’s passengers straightened on their seats. They’d had a great day, but they were now looking forward to the welcoming warmth inside the castle’s walls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Camaxhual (the magical school in Mexico) -- I had to come up with this. It's a made-up word based on real Aztec words, using [this name generator](https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/aztec-names.php). Based on [this guide](http://www.native-languages.org/nahuatl_guide.htm), it's pronounced as ka-ma-shwal.
> 
> About the wandless magic thing: I know that in HP canon only the strongest witches & wizards are supposed to be able to do wandless magic, but that sounds very Euro-centric to me. (Even the wand woods listed on the Pottermore web site don't include a lot of trees that grow in tropical forests.) I don't think that Native American tribes would necessarily use wands. I know that where I'm from, at least, magic wands aren't a thing when it comes to supernatural (witchy) stories. There's a lot of potions involved, murmured incantations, some leaf waving, but not wands.


	4. Chapter 4

A spell of bad weather stole over Ilvermorny, assailing the castle with wet snow and bone-chilling cold.

Juliana and Valentina spent their days indoors.

They read through the first of the three books Valentina had bought from the Muggle bookshop; or more accurately, Valentina read while Juliana listened. They both took to the main character, getting into the plot as they followed the story through her eyes. Something that stood out to Juliana was the description of her clothes. She was fascinated by the idea of a dress on fire, and wondered if that was something that could really be done by magic if not by Muggle technology.

When they weren’t reading, they whiled away the time by stuffing themselves with Christmas treats, roasting marshmallows in the common room’s huge fireplace as they drank hot chocolate, and ‘practised magic’ by trying to bring down the various Christmas baubles floating over their heads. So far, they had not succeeded in that last endeavour; whoever had put up the holiday decorations clearly had student mischief in mind.

They soon turned their attention to another classic holiday activity: baking Christmas cookies.

After the incident with the toaster, Juliana had made it a point to learn how to operate the magical devices in the common room kitchen, but while she knew how to cook a variety of meals, she had never tried baking before. So they borrowed a recipe book from the library and Valentina led them to Ilvermorny’s main kitchen where she asked the staff for the ingredients they would need. Three kitchen staff were staying over for the holidays, but Valentina told Juliana that there were normally more of them on regular school days. It was obvious that she’d been to the main kitchen before and the staff clearly loved her. They even offered to help, but both Juliana and Valentina wanted to do it by themselves, declining the staff’s suggestion to do the baking in the main kitchen.

Having acquired the necessary ingredients from the staff -- as well as a concerned round of advice, Juliana and Valentina raced back to the Pukwudgie common room, making a beeline for its small kitchen where they immediately got to baking.

They ran into a complication just a few minutes after they’d laid out the ingredients on the kitchen island.

“Mixing Charm,” Juliana muttered, frowning at the recipe book. In front of her was a bowl of unmixed butter and sugar. “Why does everything need to be done by magic?”

“Huh?” Valentina asked, looking up from the flour she was sifting. Juliana had asked her to do that particular task as it was less likely to lead to disaster. Somehow, she had already gotten flour on her hair.

“I just don’t understand why--” Juliana stopped herself from complaining. “Does this kitchen have a whisk? Or a spatula?” she asked instead, going over to the drawers to look for said equipment.

Valentina left the bowl of flour to read over the recipe book, flipping to the end pages. “Oh, it’s right here, the instructions for the Mixing Charm,” she said. “Do you want me to cast it?”

“Uh,” Juliana hesitated, recalling the explosion Valentina had caused in the kitchen. “Okay,” she said eventually, thinking that turning on a magical device was different from casting a spell, and Valentina was actually very good at the latter.

Valentina took out her wand, waving it as she pronounced the incantation.

The butter slowly levitated upwards, sugar trickling down like sand on a disturbed rock face.

Juliana eyed the butter, hoping fervently that that was supposed to happen. She flicked a glance towards Valentina, who was also staring at the levitating lump of butter, wide-eyed.

“Um...”

The butter churned by itself then, without warning, separated into smaller clumps and flew in all directions. A huge chunk narrowly missed Juliana, hitting the cupboard door behind her and sticking to it. Valentina, who was standing over the bowl, was not so lucky. She caught a small lump squarely to her forehead.

“Ow.”

Juliana quickly strode over towards Valentina. “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly, reaching out to Valentina’s jaw so she could turn her face towards her as she inspected the damage.

Before Valentina could reply, another complication arrived in the form of the sixth year Pukwudgie prefect. “What the--?”

“Mateo!” Valentina exclaimed, turning away from Juliana as she wiped the butter off her forehead with a flour-covered hand, getting streaks of the white powder on her face. “You can’t give us detention this time, it’s the holidays and we’re not breaking curfew,” she reasoned out in preemptive defence.

Mateo blinked rapidly for a few seconds before raising his hands in surrender. He retreated from the room only to come back a moment later. “Do you at least know how to clean this?” he asked, looking around the small kitchen. A lump of butter had stuck to the ceiling.

“Yeah,” Juliana piped up. “Yes. I learned the Cleaning Spell.” Sort of. Half the time, she ended up vanishing the items instead of cleaning them. It had been a very unpleasant surprise to see a page of her sketchbook disappear when she’d only been trying to clean up her drawing.

Valentina, who had found a napkin in the meantime, nodded eagerly as she cleaned her face. “Yeah, Juls is really good at it too. One time, she--”

Juliana faked a coughing fit, cutting Valentina off before she could lie too obviously.

“Oh no, Juls, are you okay?” Valentina asked, rubbing Juliana’s back.

Juliana responded with a nod. The less said, the better.

Mateo looked back and forth between the two of them before letting out a sigh. “Alright,” he said. “I’m going to the library, but I’ll be back in a few hours. Just… just call me if you need anything.”

“Okay, thanks Mateo,” Valentina said sweetly. Juliana echoed her.

Mateo gave them one last wary look before finally leaving.

Juliana and Valentina turned to each other, made eye contact, and promptly dissolved into a fit of giggles.

“You are such a mess at this, Val,” Juliana said laughingly.

Valentina wrinkled her nose in protest, “I am not a mess.” There was still a bit of flour and butter on her face.

Chuckling, Juliana took the napkin in Valentina’s hand with a, “Here, give me that.” She gently but pointedly wiped Valentina’s cheek and forehead. “Does it hurt?” she asked, to which Valentina shook her head. Satisfied, Juliana moved on to brush the flour off of Valentina’s hair. Job done, she put the napkin down on the counter and tilted her head at Valentina, “mess.”

Valentina giggled. “I’m sorry,” she said, her tone belying her sincerity.

Juliana shrugged. “It’s okay. You’re funny.” _And cute_.

“Oh, you’re welcome, then,” Valentina said with a wide grin.

Juliana rolled her eyes good-naturedly before grabbing a paper towel from the roll on the kitchen counter. She started cleaning the surfaces hit by the butter explosion and Valentina was quick to help her out. Both did the task without magic until the only evidence left was the lump of butter on the ceiling. For that, Juliana took a deep breath, sent a silent prayer to whichever god was real, and finally cast the Cleaning Spell. To her relief, she didn’t end up vanishing the whole ceiling.

After that, Juliana found a spatula in the kitchen cupboard and they did the rest of the baking process without casting any more spells. Save for Valentina spilling bits of cookie dough on the floor when it was her turn to mix the batter, they got through it without any further incidents. Juliana took it upon herself to operate the kitchen’s magical oven. It needed a simple tap of the wand at a certain area and, thankfully, no explosions ensued when she turned it on.

A couple of hours later, Juliana and Valentina were sitting side by side on a couch by the common room’s fireplace with a plate of their freshly baked cookies on the coffee table in front of them. The cookies were rather flat because they’d been too impatient to chill the dough, lumpy because the batter hadn’t been mixed thoroughly, and just a little bit too sweet.

“This is really good,” Valentina said as she took a bite from a cookie.

Juliana, having stuffed a whole piece into her mouth, nodded and mumbled her agreement.

Valentina let out a short squeal and raised a hand up for a high five. Juliana slapped Valentina’s waiting hand with her own and they grinned at each other, pleased with themselves for their accomplishment.

They were the only ones in the common room, and silence fell as they enjoyed their creation quietly, chasing the cookies down with liberal sips of hot chocolate. The tasty concoction had been prepared by the kitchen staff earlier in the day and had been sent to the common rooms for students to enjoy.

Valentina broke the silence after a few minutes. “This is the first time I baked cookies since my mom-- since she passed away.”

Juliana, who was just about to stuff another cookie into her mouth, dropped her hand and looked sideways at Valentina, waiting for her to continue.

“Well, _helped_ bake cookies, because I didn’t really do anything other than put the sprinkles back then.”

Valentina’s eyes had a faraway look to them as she gazed outside. The last couple of days’ inclement weather was finally starting to calm down, sleet giving way to softly falling snow. Sunlight streamed through the windows, making the blue in Valentina’s eyes brighter despite their sadness.

“Did you bake with her a lot?” asked Juliana. After that first meeting in the Thunderbird trophy room in front of a portrait of Valentina’s mom, Juliana had learned a little more about the woman, but Valentina hadn’t said anything about baking with her before.

“A few times,” Valentina said, shrugging. “Baking cookies isn’t really a traditional thing in Mexico, and my mom was never really-- the kitchen wasn’t her… domain, I guess? But one time Eva really wanted to bake cookies so she and my mom attempted it, and Guille and I wanted to see what it was about, so we tried to help too. We screwed it up and we didn’t--” Valentina stopped, chuckling wetly, “we didn’t manage to make anything edible until Chivis found us there and decided to help us. I think she was scared that we’d set the kitchen on fire or something.

“We got better at it the next couple of times-- well, mom and Eva got better at it. I only watched them, and Guille quickly found it boring. Then mom got sick, and Eva didn’t want to have anything to do with baking cookies after that too. I wonder if Eva would like some of these,” she added, picking a cookie from the plate and taking a bite.

“I-- I think she will,” said Juliana. “Like, these are really good. And I think-- I think your mom will be proud of you too.”

Valentina’s eyes brightened as she began to smile. “Yeah?”

“Yeah! You made cookies!”

“ _We_ made cookies,” said Valentina, putting a hand on Juliana’s arm.

Juliana shrugged, letting her involvement slide off. They were talking about Valentina and her mom. But--

“What about you?” Valentina asked after a moment, playing with the woven bracelets Juliana always wore. “Did you and your mom bake cookies?”

“No,” said Juliana.

Lupé had taught her to cook different dishes, but that had been for practical reasons. Her mom often had to work overtime at her various jobs, so early on Juliana had to learn how to cook for Lupé as well as Chino when he was around. Chino would go into unpredictable fits of rage if his dinners weren’t prepared on time, and it had sometimes fallen on Juliana to do that.

She did, however, recall several times when it had been just her and Lupé and they would sit at their small kitchen table, talking and laughing as they cooked.

“But we always prepared our food for _el Dia de Muertos_ together,” she told Valentina. “We made _tamales_ , _chalupas_ … _calabaza en tacha_ \--”

“Oh, I love those!” Valentina exclaimed, withdrawing her hand and twisting around in her seat so she was facing Juliana fully. “You know how to make them?”

“ _Claro que sí_ ,” said Juliana, laughing at Valentina’s amazement over something so simple. “ _Es muy fácil_.”

Valentina smiled at Juliana in response, her gaze tender. “You must have been missing your mom a lot too, that day we met.”

Juliana looked down at her hands, thinking of all the _Dias de Muertos_ she’d spent with just her mom, and how different they’d been from the Christmases when Chino had always been around.

She was already dreading the thought of going home at the end of the week. When Professor Borges had called her mother to ask for permission for the Muggle outing, Lupé had asked to speak with Juliana afterwards and Professor Borges had let them talk on her Floo Glass in private. Lupé had told Juliana that she’d successfully lied to Chino about her school, telling him that she’d been accepted to a prestigious private school on a full scholarship.

Apparently, Chino was now pleased and proud of her. Juliana knew Lupé believed that. Juliana didn’t.

Valentina reached for Juliana’s hand and squeezed, drawing Juliana out of her dark thoughts. “Thank you for staying here with me, Juls.”

Juliana gazed up at Valentina. She would not have wanted to be anywhere else, but she didn’t know how to express that. Instead, she said, “ _Me encanta aquí_.” _I love it here_. _Contigo_ , it went unsaid. _With you_.

Valentina gave Juliana’s hand another squeeze before letting go to lean back against the couch and stare up at the ceiling. Juliana watched as her smile widened by degrees.

“ _Qué?_ ” Juliana asked when Valentina turned to her, eyes sparkling with what seemed to be the beginnings of an idea.

“I think we can get one of those candy canes down,” Valentina replied, motioning to the said items, which were floating several feet above their heads with the other Christmas decorations.

“We already tried that,” Juliana reminded her, “and failed.”

Valentina had attempted to de-spell whatever magic was making the items float while Juliana had thrown a pillow at them in the hopes that they would fall down. Neither worked, and the pillow would have sailed directly into the fireplace had it not been for Valentina’s quick Levitation Charm.

“Yeah, but maybe we haven’t tried it the _right way_ ,” said Valentina.

Juliana chuckled at Valentina’s persistence.

“Okay, okay, let’s think,” Valentina began. “ _Finite Incantatem_ didn’t work-- I think that’s because the enchantment is too… spread out, I guess? Like it’s not just on one object but on _all_ of them,” she reasoned out, glancing at Juliana.

Juliana, who had taken the opportunity to eat another whole cookie, could only stare back and nod wordlessly.

Valentina went on. “So… it’s something like a blanket enchantment, like _Protego totalum_ , except it’s less Defense and more Charms-- wait… _Protego_! _Protego_ , _protego_ , _protego_ …”

Juliana waited patiently as Valentina repeated the word several times. She tilted her head as she gazed at Valentina, curious about where Valentina’s ideas were taking her.

“They must be using a magical membrane, something like a Shield Charm, but obviously not for shielding… Oh wait, I think it’s a form of Suspension Charm, like a blanket one!” Valentina said, slapping her lap in excitement. “Which means,” she took her wand out of her robe pocket, “if I don’t hit it directly, but--”

Valentina pointed her wand upward and muttered an incantation that sounded like bad Spanish to Juliana. The spell hit the area just next to the candy cane. Valentina kept her wand trained on it until, a few seconds later, something fell to the ground. Juliana bent to pick it up.

“Did I get it?” Valentina asked excitedly.

Juliana showed the fallen object to her. “You got the mistletoe. But that was so cool, Val!” she hurriedly reassured when Valentina’s face fell. “That was so cool,” she couldn’t help but repeat. It always amazed her whenever Valentina set her mind on a particular bit of spellwork.

Valentina grinned proudly, her cheeks pink. “Oh,” she said, giving a one-shouldered shrug, “well, I think I just need to direct the spell at the right point.”

She made to raise her wand again, but drew it back down when the common room’s main door swung open, revealing Mateo. Not wanting to get caught, Juliana quickly pocketed the mistletoe as the prefect approached them.

“ _Hola_ ,” he greeted. He shot an inquisitive look in the direction of the kitchen before turning back to them.

“Hey Mateo,” Valentina replied chirpily. “We were just-- we were just... eating! Yeah, we were just eating these cookies.” She picked up the plate of baked goods on the table and showed it to Mateo. “Would you like some? We made them ourselves. _Without magic_.”

Juliana arranged her face into a neutral expression as Mateo eyed them sceptically. She chanced a glance at Valentina and saw that she was smiling her butter-wouldn’t-melt smile, the one that always got them out of trouble when they were being too noisy in the library.

“I’m good, Vale, thank you,” Mateo said after a moment. “By the way, Eva was looking for you.”

Valentina set the plate of cookies down on her lap. “ _Por qué?_ ”

“She wanted to talk to you about Duelling?”

“I haven’t attended the Duelling Club in over a month,” said Valentina, her brows furrowing in confusion.

“No, not the club. Anyway, she said she’ll find you at the Great Hall at dinner.”

Valentina shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”

“Well,” Mateo said, smiling, “I’ll leave you two to it.” He gave the common room a once over until, seemingly satisfied, he headed for the door that led towards the boys’ dormitories.

Juliana and Valentina turned to each other after Mateo had disappeared. Juliana put a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress a smile. Valentina was biting her lip, but her grin broke through. Soon enough, they both gave in to their mirth, grabbing at each other’s arms as they laughed. Valentina raised her knee in reflex and almost upended the plate of cookies on her lap, and that made them laugh even harder.

It was several minutes before either of them recovered.

“Okay,” said Valentina, “I’m gonna try for the candy cane this time.”


	5. Chapter 5

After three days of being cooped up in the castle, Valentina and Juliana finally had the chance to go out of doors. Snow was thick on the ground but the sun shone brightly, driving away the last traces of the past few days’ bad weather.

It was the perfect day to go flying, and Valentina intended to do just that. She decked herself and Juliana in warm, high-collared flying robes, Juliana borrowing one of hers, and they put on beanies and gloves for good measure. Having dressed appropriately, they raced across the school grounds towards the broom shed.

“Hey, Juls,” Valentina called out as she took down her _Nimbus XV_ from its specially-reserved rack.

Juliana, who was selecting a school broom from the communal racks on the other side of the shed, turned and gave Valentina a questioning look.

Valentina smiled slightly. Juliana looked adorable, covered as she was from head to toe with the exception of her face. “Do you wanna use my broom this time?” she asked. 

Juliana eyed the _Nimbus_ hesitantly. Valentina had offered it to Juliana several times before, but Juliana had always declined, afraid to damage it even though Valentina had kept insisting that she wouldn’t. Valentina gave Juliana her most encouraging smile until the doubt in Juliana’s expression faded away, replaced by a small lopsided grin. Knowing Juliana had given in, Valentina squealed, beaming, and crossed the shed towards her.

“Here you go, _señorita_ ,” she said, presenting the _Nimbus XV_ to Juliana with a dramatic flourish.

“You’re so silly,” Juliana said, giggling. “Do you want this one?” she asked before Valentina could respond, taking out the _Firebolt Magnum_ out of its rack. It was what Juliana had been using, the newest among the school brooms. In fact, it had been donated by Valentina herself when she’d upgraded to her _Nimbus XV_ last year.

Valentina nodded, handing her _Nimbus_ to Juliana while Juliana gave her the _Firebolt_ with a soft, “ _Gracias, Val_.” She smiled sweetly at Juliana before turning her attention to her old broom.

The _Firebolt_ thrummed somewhat erratically in Valentina’s hand, an indication of its less than perfect condition. The _Magnum_ was still a relatively new model, having only been released a few years ago, but Valentina had always breezed through broom models like they were fashion trends. It had never been out of a desire to have the latest model; her brooms just had a habit of quickly wearing out. Eva had sometimes said that Valentina ought to take better care of her things, but Valentina had never really seen the point of it until she had to help Juliana select the best out of the school’s sad collection of second-rate or second-hand brooms.

Her thoughts turned to her Christmas charity project. Every year since they’d turned eleven, their dad had let Valentina, Guille, and Eva choose an establishment for _Grupo Carvajal_ to donate to as part of their Christmas presents. Eva had always chosen the _Museo de Artes Mágicas Aztecas_ in Mexico, while Guille had always gone for the _Colegio Camaxhual de Magia_. Valentina had chosen the Magical Arts museum when she was eleven, and Mexico’s school of magic when she was twelve. Perhaps, this year, she could donate to Ilvermorny by way of new and well-designed brooms. It was a serious consideration, but Valentina waved the thought aside for another time as she followed Juliana out of the broom shed.

“Right,” Juliana exhaled, staring at the _Nimbus_ hovering at waist-height in front of her.

Valentina smiled at the serious expression she was wearing. “It’s not that different from this, I promise,” she said, holding up the _Firebolt_. “I mean, it’s more delicate to the touch because it’s specifically for Seeking while the _Magnum_ is for general sports use, but once you… uh… connect,” she clasped her hands in emphasis, “to the _XV_ , it becomes, like… part of your body, and controlling it becomes as easy as controlling, like, your hand or something.”

Juliana gaped at her as though she was talking about advanced Transfiguration. “Just get on it,” Valentina said gently.

Shrugging, Juliana did as told. 

“ _Cuidate--_ ” Valentina started, intending to warn Juliana about the take-off, but she was too late.

Juliana kicked off from the ground a little too forcefully, clearly overshooting her goal, jerked sideways and almost hit the broom shed, then pulled the other way, streaking through the length of the Quodpot pitch.

“Shit.” Valentina felt her heart drop to her stomach. She quickly got on the _Firebolt_ and went after Juliana, squinting against the cold wind blowing through her face. Several ways of checking Juliana’s flight raced through Valentina’s mind, all quickly discarded because they would be painful. Impressively, and to Valentina’s utter relief, Juliana managed to steady her flight by the time Valentina reached her.

“ _Estás bien?_ ” Valentina asked from below Juliana. She’d positioned herself so that she could at least catch Juliana if she fell.

“ _Sí_ ,” replied Juliana. She had stopped in her tracks and was now hovering mid-air, face flushed, whether from the bite of the cold air or the shock of her unchecked flight, Valentina didn’t know. And then, “That was so fun, Val!”

Valentina put a hand over her still-racing heart and let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “I was so worried!” she exclaimed, laughing now that the perceived danger was over.

Juliana looked down at Valentina with a pout, though her eyes were dancing. “Sorry.” She made to go down to Valentina’s level, overshot again, then quickly checked herself. “Whoa.”

Valentina, who had dropped down in reflex as Juliana went past her, clutched at her chest. “I am going to _die_ , Juliana!”

Juliana laughed at her theatrics. “Hey, you’re the one who suggested I try this out.”

“Well, maybe I’m regretting it now,” said Valentina.

Juliana giggled, clearly disbelieving. Valentina was joking, of course. She knew first hand that one couldn’t learn to fly well without overshooting every now and again, and Juliana was always so eager to learn more. It pleased Valentina to no end that she could share her love of flying with her.

There was no one else in the Quodpot pitch, but Valentina and Juliana chose to fly all the way to the other side of the castle, where there was a much wider field bordered by the castle walls on one side and tall trees around the others. It was often used as a pitch when students wanted to play a pick-up game of Quidditch. There were makeshift goalposts at one part of the field, along with a small spectator stand. It wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as a full-sized pitch, but it was playable enough that Ilvermony’s own Quidditch team sometimes trained there even though they had a pitch reserved for them outside of the school. It was also where Valentina had taught Juliana how to fly, so it was familiar ground to both of them.

They spent the first half-hour simply flying around the field, Juliana trying to get the hang of the _Nimbus XV_ while Valentina flew around her and shouted encouragement. Sometimes, Valentina would shoot up high above the treetops only to dive down and pull up just before she hit the snow-covered ground. Despite her old broom’s less than perfect state, the _Firebolt_ was still the best model to perform feints on.

“Show off!” Juliana shouted at Valentina as she feinted yet again, diving so low that her boots caught some snow as she pulled up, sending it splattering around the point of contact.

Valentina giggled, flying towards Juliana and keeping pace with her. “You’re doing great, Juls,” she told her honestly, ignoring her previous comment.

“Uh-huh,” said Juliana, smirking.

She was focusing on keeping at the same speed and level as Juliana that Valentina didn’t register that they were very low near the ground. Before she knew it, Juliana had kicked up the snow beneath her, sending soft lumps of it towards Valentina even as she flew sideways with the force of her kick. Juliana kept her balance somehow, which Valentina felt proud of, but she had another matter to address.

“Oh, you are daring to challenge me in this?” Valentina said, wiping bits of snow off her face. She advanced on Juliana, flying even lower on the ground, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow even as she stayed on her broom.

Juliana, having realised her disadvantage, quickly dismounted from her broom and ran away at surprising speed, laughing the whole time. She stopped at a distance that she presumably thought was safe and started scooping up snow, preparing to stand her ground. Valentina quickly gained on her and threw her single snowball at Juliana, who easily dodged it. Juliana responded with three snowballs thrown in quick succession. Valentina was able to dodge all of it, but, on the air as she was, she had run out of ammunition while Juliana was making more for herself. Valentina retreated several feet away and scooped up a couple of snowballs before flying back to Juliana, who pelted her with snowballs as soon as she was within throwing distance. One hit her on the arm, but she was able to even it up with a snowball to Juliana’s shoulder.

Their game went on for a while, with Valentina darting back and forth on her broom while Juliana stayed on one spot with a growing pile of snowballs around her. They were pretty evenly matched, Valentina having the advantage of altitude while Juliana had the ammunition. 

Their play-battle came to a head when Valentina deliberately jumped off her broom and careened into Juliana, sending them both tumbling towards the ground. Winded, the two of them lay side by side on the snow, catching their breaths as they laughed quietly.

Valentina spoke first. “My back,” she groaned dramatically. “I think I broke my back.”

“What!” Juliana exclaimed, sitting up. She peered at Valentina, putting a hand on her shoulder tentatively, as though afraid to cause more pain. “Where does it hurt? Can you get up? Do you need me to--?”

“Juls,” said Valentina, smiling, “I’m fine.” Her back did hurt a little from the fall, but she was certain she hadn’t broken it and the dull pain was beginning to ebb away even as she spoke.

Juliana rolled her eyes, throwing her head back with the motion and letting herself flop back onto the snow-covered ground. “You had me worried.”

“Sorry,” Valentina said with a giggle, looking over at Juliana. She had somehow lost her beanie in the fray and her black hair fanned out on the ground beneath her, in stark contrast to the white snow.

Juliana returned Valentina’s gaze, smiling softly, and started laughing again. Valentina was quick to join her.

An interruption came in the form of a hesitant greeting. “Uh… hi?”

Valentina and Juliana, still flat on their backs, turned their heads in unison towards the source of the sound. It was an older student, with several others standing behind her, all carrying brooms on their shoulders and all staring curiously at the two of them. Valentina sat up slowly while Juliana scrambled to her feet, dusting off the snow that stuck to her robes.

“We were hoping to use the field for a Quidditch game,” said the student at the lead, a black girl with a glorious head of curly hair. “Would you mind?”

“Gwen,” the girl behind her said, “we could just go to the Quodpot pitch.” She was a good several inches taller than her friend and had short cropped hair the colour of straw.

“But Maddie, look,” the first girl said, motioning to Valentina, who was still sitting on the ground. “It’s baby Carvajal.”

Valentina frowned at the nickname and shared a glance with Juliana, who extended a hand and pulled Valentina up to her feet.

She realised that the two older girls were in Guille’s year. They were both members of Ilvermorny’s Quidditch team. Valentina had sometimes seen the two of them playing pick-up Quidditch with Guille, who, while not a member of the team, had often been invited to play to round out the numbers. Gwen had taken to calling Valentina a ‘baby’ because she was the youngest among her siblings. Valentina had let it slide because she’d once heard Gwen call Eva ‘Madame Carvajal’ behind her back -- in a French accent.

“Hey, Gwen, Maddie,” said Valentina, nodding.

That started a round of greetings. The other students with them weren’t part of Ilvermorny’s Quidditch team, but the brooms they were holding told Valentina that they were planning to play too. All of them were older than Valentina and Juliana.

“Hi V-Valentina,” one of the younger boys greeted. “Hi Juliana,” pronouncing the ‘J’ wrong.

Valentina frowned slightly at his mispronunciation. She remembered him from the Muggle outing that Professor Borges had organised a few days ago. She was pretty sure his name was--

“Hi, Charles,” Juliana returned politely.

Yes. That. She echoed Juliana’s greeting before correcting the boy’s pronunciation. Charles apologised profusely to Juliana, who waved it away graciously. Valentina huffed. It always annoyed her when people pronounced Juliana’s name wrong, but Juliana didn’t seem to mind. She’d told Valentina that she’d gotten used to it after going to school in Texas.

“So,” Gwen started, cutting into Charles’ awkward attempt to pronounce Juliana’s name correctly. “What do you say, ba--” she was cut off by a soft nudge from Maddie “--Valentina? You know how to play, right? Do you wanna join us? What about you-- uh, Juliana, is it?” she asked, careful to pronounce the name correctly.

“No,” said Juliana, “I-- I don’t really get the rules of Quidditch.”

Valentina had explained the rules to her, but it was hard to understand without seeing a match. Unfortunately, Quidditch wasn’t popular in the USA, which meant that, unlike Quodpot, Ilvermorny didn’t have inter-House Quidditch competitions. Ilvermorny’s Quidditch team competed against other schools in the country, and games were never hosted within school grounds.

“Oh, we’re just Chasing,” Gwen said airily. “There aren’t enough of us to form two complete teams.” True enough, there were only four other students besides Gwen, Maddie, and Charles.

“I can’t-- I’m not good at flying,” said Juliana, worrying the tips of her fingers with her teeth. Valentina reached out and grabbed her hand, giving her a comforting smile.

“Ah, that’s cool,” said Gwen, shrugging. She turned to Valentina and gave her an expectant look. “You?”

Valentina looked at Juliana. She did want to play, but she and Juliana had been having so much fun just hanging out by themselves. “I don’t--”

“Val,” Juliana cut in, squeezing the hand that was still holding hers. “You can play if you want to.”

“But I wanna hang out with you,” Valentina protested.

“I’ll stay here and watch,” Juliana assured her, smiling. “Maybe I’ll finally understand the game if I get to see it played.”

“It won’t be the full game,” Valentina pointed out gently. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Val,” said Juliana, squeezing her hand again. “I’ll sit over there and cheer for you,” she added with a grin, pointing towards the spectator stand.

Valentina smiled widely at the thought of Juliana cheering for her, her nose crinkling. “Okay.”

“Well,” Gwen began, looking back and forth between Valentina and Juliana with a smirk, “that settles it then.”

They split into two teams with four members each; Valentina ended up on Maddie’s team while Gwen led the other. To give everyone a chance to score goals, every team member was expected to defend. Still, Maddie, who was the school team’s Keeper, did most of the defending on their team. Gwen, on the other hand, was the opposing team’s best goalscorer despite usually playing Beater. She and Maddie kept going up against each other in entertaining one-on-ones, Gwen often teasing Maddie to distract her while the latter just smirked and blocked her shots.

Valentina favoured the Seeker position most, but she was not a bad Chaser. Gwen’s team did not have as good a defender as Maddie, and Valentina scored goal after goal with ease. Her teammates quickly learned to give her the ball when they are nearing the opposing team’s end, and Juliana cheered every time she scored, boosting her confidence.

In the end, her team won by a margin of seventy points. Seven goals. Valentina glowed with pride.

“Hey,” Maddie said to Valentina after the game, “you did really good. I’m pretty sure you scored more than these guys combined,” she nodded towards their two other teammates, who shrugged good-naturedly.

Valentina smiled up at her, pleased. They were all gathered around the middle of the makeshift pitch, sitting in a crooked circle on the snow-covered ground. Valentina had settled only a few feet away from Maddie while Juliana, who had come down from the stands to join them, sat on Valentina’s other side, their knees almost touching.

“Oh, I’d score, like, a hundred goals if I had my own personal cheerleader.” Gwen, who was leaning against Maddie’s side, sat up and shifted around the taller girl to give Valentina and Juliana the same smirk she’d given them before the game.

“Uh-huh,” said Maddie, grinning.

Gwen winked at her before turning back to Valentina. “Seriously though, Valentina, Maddie’s right. That was impressive up there. Why haven’t you tried out for the school team? We could definitely use more players who can fly and score goals like that. I mean… Charles here--” she pointed to the boy sitting across from them, “--is one of our best flyers, but he’s a horrible shot.”

“Hey,” the boy protested, catching Valentina’s eye briefly. “I’m a Seeker, not a Chaser.”

Gwen waved her hand dismissively as if to say that wasn’t relevant. She turned back to Valentina and gave her an expectant look.

“Uhm,” Valentina fidgeted with her broom, realising that Gwen was waiting for an answer, but she wasn’t comfortable revealing the truth. “I’m not-- I don’t really--”

Gwen started chuckling, waving her hand nonchalantly. “Hey, no pressure! Just think about it, yeah?”

Valentina smiled gratefully at her, glad that Gwen didn’t push it. Sensing Juliana’s gaze, she turned to her and was met with a questioning tilt of her head. Not wanting to talk with other people around, Valentina nudged Juliana’s knee with her own gently. Juliana responded in kind, smiling a soft smile that Valentina couldn’t help but return.

“I’m developing a toothache, I swear,” Gwen said loudly, drawing their attention.

Maddie shook her head at Gwen while Gwen just smirked at Valentina and Juliana’s puzzled expressions.

It wasn’t until later that night that Juliana brought up her question.

They were on Juliana’s bed in her dorm room, Valentina leaning against the headboard with a book in her hands while Juliana lay next to her, listening as Valentina read the closing passages of a chapter. All of their respective roommates had gone home for the holidays, so they’d decided to sleep in one of their dorms, neither of them wanting to spend the night alone in an otherwise empty room. They’d settled on the first-year girls’ dormitory, sharing Juliana’s large bed so they could chat before falling asleep every night.

Having finished the chapter she was currently on, Valentina let out a huge yawn and rubbed at her eyes. She wanted to continue reading, but the day’s activities had worn her out and she could see that Juliana, who had mirrored her yawn, was also quite sleepy.

“Let’s continue tomorrow,” said Valentina, her voice only a little above a whisper. It was late, and the only other sound was the soft pervasive hum of magic around the castle that was only ever audible late at night. The day’s tame weather had extended into the night, and the wind outside was no match against the castle’s thick walls and locked windows.

Juliana nodded her agreement.

Valentina placed her book on the nightstand and turned off the bedside lamp, leaving the dorm room in darkness but for the moonlight streaming through the large glass windows. She slid down the bed to a lying position, bringing the covers up to her neck with Juliana’s help, and twisted around so she was facing her.

“Hey, Val,” Juliana began before Valentina could say her customary ‘good night’. “Why didn’t you join the Quidditch team? You really like it, don’t you?”

Valentina’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness; she could perfectly make out Juliana’s expression, curious and earnest all at once.

“I tried out my first year, actually,” Valentina admitted, pulling at an imaginary loose thread at the edge of her pillow. Juliana remained silent, waiting. “I got in as a reserve Seeker,” she continued. “I wouldn’t get to play in the actual matches, but I’d get to train with the team and play against them in practice matches. I could also get called up to play if the main Seeker got injured, but no one wants that to happen. But Lucho... he-- I let him convince me that it wasn’t worth it, that it would be too much work if I wouldn’t get to play in actual matches anyway.”

Valentina and Lucho had tried out together, but he hadn’t been awarded even a reserve position. It had only been much later that Valentina had begun to suspect that Lucho had just been envious that she’d gotten in when he hadn’t. 

Juliana made sure to catch Valentina’s gaze before speaking. “Do you still want to join now?”

Valentina licked her lips. She’d convinced herself that she didn’t really want to play for the school team, but, “Yes,” she said honestly. It was the first time she’d admitted that out loud. “But I don’t know if they’d ever let me in. They weren’t happy when I told them I didn’t really want to join.”

The team’s then-Captain had been so disappointed when she’d backed out, and one of the other players had angrily told her not to even think of trying out for the team again because she clearly couldn’t commit.

“I’m sure that Gwen and Maddie only asked me to try out because they weren’t in the team back then. Charles is also new to the team,” Valentina added. In fact, she’d found out earlier that afternoon that he’d tried out at the start of the school year and gotten the reserve Seeker position.

“But that was _ages_ ago,” said Juliana, frowning. “They shouldn’t hold that against you. And you heard what Gwen said, they need someone with your skills.”

Valentina’s lips twitched upwards into a smile, tickled that Juliana was so convinced about her abilities when she had never seen a Quidditch match. “They only hold tryouts at the beginning of the year.”

“Well, you can try out next year,” Juliana said matter-of-factly. “I mean, if you still really want to.”

“Yeah,” said Valentina, feeling light. She had no idea how much the Quidditch team tryouts had been bothering her until Juliana’s words lifted the worry off of her mind. “M-maybe I can try again next year.”

Juliana responded by giving her a sleepy but encouraging smile.

Valentina thrust her hand out to rest palm up on the pillows between them. “Goodnight, Juls,” she said softly.

Juliana put her hand over Valentina’s and whispered back, “‘Night, Val.”

Valentina reached out with her other hand, playing with the Muggle woven bracelets Juliana always wore around her wrists. The action had a lulling effect on both of them, and they soon drifted off, warm under the covers and in the comfort of each other’s presence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Museo de Artes Mágicas Aztecas - this is supposed to translate to "Museum of Aztec Art Magic" but I don't know if did this correctly. Feel free to point out a better translation
> 
> Colegio Camaxhual de Magia - I copied the Mexican magic school's full name from what Hogwarts is called in the Spanish translation of the HP books
> 
> The broom models:
> 
> Nimbus XV - this has nothing to do with the year it was released. It's a nod to that music group Maca was in -- she looked like she was cosplaying a witch, okay. (Sidenote: I do have a specific timeline for this story though, and it can be guessed.)
> 
> Firebolt Magnum - I cackled when I named this model, but this actually has a basis in HP canon since there is a model called "Firebolt Supreme"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if anyone who hasn't read Harry Potter would bother reading this at all, but just in case:
> 
> Spells have a name (normally in English) and an incantation (normally based on Latin words). For example, the Shield Charm's incantation is _Protego_.

Eva Carvajal paced around the empty Charms classroom as she waited for her sister to arrive. She thought of the endless list of things she needed to do over the break, annoyed that she’d had to take precious time off actual studying to practice proper duelling. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who was a Hogwarts alumnus, seemed to think it was a necessary skill, but Eva completely disagreed. The fact that some madman took over England more than ten years ago didn’t mean that the threat was still there, or that the same thing would happen on this side of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, Ilvermorny had given the teacher a lot of leeway with his teaching methods, and he planned to test students’ practical Defense magic abilities by way of a duel.

Eva detested it. Duelling was an activity suited only for the poor masses seeking quick money and fame.

To her distaste, Valentina, her own sister, had joined Ilvermorny’s Duelling Club. Worse still, Valentina had joined with that boy Lucho, who was almost as much of a delinquent as his good-for-nothing older brother, Lorenzo.

Eva shuddered at the memory of having to dance with Lorenzo several months ago, when she and a few other sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds had been presented to the _alta sociedad_ of Mexico.

She would have preferred to dance with Mateo. They had been friends since they’d started Ilvermorny together. She knew he had a crush on her and maybe, just maybe, it was reciprocated. He had kind eyes like her mom, and he was so adorably sincere most of the time. His family was also influential in their part of Mexico, which was important. She had even asked him to be her escort for her _quinceañera_.

However, unlike the _quinceañera_ , which was the sole province of the celebrant’s immediate family, the biennial grand event that introduced young witches and wizards who were coming into adulthood was organised by the old _doñas_ of wizarding high society. And while the Lunas were rich, they were not part of the inner circle, those families who could trace their lineage back to the high-ranking Spaniards who came to Mexico after the conquest. The _doñas_ had insisted that there was no better partner for a Carvajal than an Avila, and Eva’s father had not listened to her pleas to get the old bats to change their minds.

Eva shook herself out of those unpleasant thoughts and looked at her watch. It was five minutes until their agreed meeting time and Valentina still hadn’t arrived. Eva had already moved the classroom’s desks towards the walls with a Levitation charm, but she couldn’t start practising without a partner.

Despite her disapproval of Valentina’s chosen extracurricular activities, Eva couldn’t deny that she needed Valentina’s help to improve her duelling skills. For all her irresponsible attitude towards her studies, Valentina was naturally gifted, and practical magic came easily to her.

Valentina arrived almost three minutes after their agreed-upon meeting time, but Eva made no mention of it, distracted as she was by the fact that Valentina had brought along that Muggle-born first year, Juliana Valdés.

Eva raised an eyebrow at the two girls. Now that school was on break and there were fewer students in the castle, Eva couldn’t help but notice that Valentina and her new friend were inseparable. In fact, it seemed that they hadn’t spent one minute apart since the winter break started. Eva didn’t understand how they could stand it, but she chose not to comment.

Despite her initial reservations, Eva was grateful for Valentina’s friendship with the Muggle-born. The young girl had done a better job than herself or Guille of cheering Valentina up after their father had told them that he couldn’t come home early. There was also the fact that Juliana had obviously delayed going home for Valentina’s sake, and that Valentina was actually enjoying spending part of her Christmas break at school because of the other girl.

The girls had even baked cookies a couple of days ago, some of which they’d given to Eva. That had reminded her of all those times when she’d used to bake cookies with her mom, and she’d had to clench her jaw in order to keep her lips from trembling at the sight of Valentina’s proudly smiling face as she presented a plate of cookies to her. Of course, when Eva had finally bitten into a cookie, she’d had to keep her face neutral for a completely different reason. It was so sweet, it was like eating a lump of sugar.

“ _Hola_ ,” Eva greeted.

“ _Hola_ ,” Juliana returned.

“Hey,” said Valentina. Noticing Eva’s eyes flicker between her and Juliana, she added, “I thought Juls could watch us duel, for… uhm… research.”

Eva frowned at that. She turned her attention to Juliana. “Is Professor Goldstein making the first years take a duelling exam too?”

“No,” said Juliana. “I don’t think so. But I thought it’d be interesting to watch, if you don’t mind?”

Eva glanced at Valentina, taking in her expectant expression. “No, I don’t mind.”

Valentina and Juliana broke out into triumphant grins, making Eva want to rethink her answer.

“ _Gracias_ ,” Juliana said politely. “I’ll-- I’ll make sure to stay out of your way.”

Eva nodded, “That would be wise.”

“So,” Valentina said as she dropped Juliana’s hand, and only then did Eva notice that they were holding hands in the first place. “How do you want to do this? Is there like a... specific spell or move you need to practice?”

“ _Sí_ , we need to practice the Shield Charm, the Disarming Spell, the Stunning Spell, and the Body-Bind.”

“Wait, really?” Valentina asked, surprise evident on her face. “That’s all?”

“ _Sí, por qué?_ ”

“Those spells seem too simple for sixth years,” Valentina said with a shrug. “Aren’t you doing advanced duelling spells?”

“This is _Defense_ , not Duelling class,” Eva pointed out. “Professor Goldstein said he wanted us to be able to defend ourselves well,” she added with a roll of her eyes. She could afford to hire bodyguards, she didn’t need to get her hands dirty with defensive spells. “I already know those spells, of course, but I could use the strength and reflex practice,” she admitted grudgingly.

“Okay. Erm… I think we can practice the Shield Charm and Disarming Charm easily, but, well… did you want to try the Stunning and Body-Bind spells on me?” Valentina asked hesitantly.

“No, of course not,” Eva assured her quickly. She’d never do that to her own little sister, even for practice. Besides, Guille and their father -- and the rest of the Carvajal household -- would not be too happy with her if she used Valentina for target practice. She wanted to joke that Juliana could be the dummy, but she had a feeling Valentina would not take too kindly to _that_. “We’re practising those on charmed dummies. I was thinking of practising the Shield Charm while you cast increasingly stronger spells at me. As for the Disarming Charm, I’m not entirely sure how that could be done.”

Valentina shrugged. “We could still practise it like the Shield Charm. I’ll send spells at you and you can try to counter with the Disarming Charm.”

“But that would mean you’ll be thrown off your feet.”

“We’re casting Cushioning Charms on the floor, Eva,” Valentina pointed out. “Duelling rule number one, safety first,” she added, attempting and failing at a wink, which made Juliana giggle.

Eva rolled her eyes at the two of them. “Right. Let’s do this then.”

Valentina started off by sending a slow barrage of _Rictusempras_ at Eva. She was able to block most of it with the Shield Charm until Valentina changed her rhythm, hitting Eva square in the chest with a Tickling Charm. She broke out into unwilling and uncontrollable laughter, falling on her knees, until Valentina cast _Finite_.

Recovering, Eva quickly got to her feet, her annoyance at the indignity of Valentina’s chosen spell aggravated by the fact that Juliana, who was sitting on a desk just behind and to the right of Valentina, was silently laughing as she pored over a piece of parchment.

Valentina was smirking as well.

“Can you not use the _Rictusempra_?” Eva demanded.

“But that’s the safest spell!”

Eva spluttered at Valentina’s protest. “I don’t _enjoy_ it!”

Valentina’s lips twitched up. “Fine, I’ll use a Trip Jinx, but you won’t _‘enjoy’_ it when you fall on your butt.”

“We cast Cushioning Charms on the floor, Valentina,” Eva pointed out, imitating Valentina’s tone from before.

Valentina stuck her tongue out by way of reply, and Eva had to remind herself that she was doing this for her grades -- and the Head Girl badge that would surely come with it.

They resumed their sparring with Valentina sending the Trip Jinx towards Eva at an unpredictable rhythm. Eva was able to cast _Protego_ in time for more than half of the spells Valentina directed at her; the rest hit her with unerring accuracy, sending her stumbling to the magically cushioned floor. Each time that happened, Valentina would turn to Juliana with a huge grin on her face, and Juliana would smile proudly back at her.

Eva quickly realised that Valentina was showing off to her friend, at Eva’s expense. Incensed, she worked harder to predict Valentina’s movements and, in less than half an hour, she was able to cast the Shield Charm for each jinx Valentina threw at her. By the time Valentina started using _Stupefy_ , not one Stunner hit her despite Valentina’s accuracy.

“Okay!” Valentina exclaimed, dropping her arms down to her sides after Eva successfully blocked the last Stunner she’d sent her way. “I think you’ve gotten the hang of it,” she said, bouncing on her feet and letting out a small squeal.

Eva smiled widely; Valentina’s excitement was always infectious. Behind her, Juliana was smiling too, her head tilted to one side as she gazed at Valentina’s back.

“Yes, I think so too,” Eva said confidently, directing her attention back to Valentina. “Let’s move on to the Disarming Charm.”

“Yes!” Valentina nodded, bouncing once again. “This should be easier now that your reflexes have improved.”

That turned out not to be the case, for Eva at least. Whereas the _Protego_ would shield her from spells, the _Expelliarmus_ , which only disarmed one’s opponents, did not offer the same reassurance. The possibility of getting hit despite casting the Disarming Charm threw Eva off sufficiently that she ended up unable to counter any of Valentina’s attacks, getting hit by ten Trip Jinxes in as many minutes.

Juliana wasn’t laughing, at least, but she was bent over her parchment again, writing something with one of those Muggle pens. Eva recalled Valentina’s reason for Juliana’s presence -- research, supposedly. She wondered if Juliana was recording the whole practice session, writing about every single time Eva tripped over her own feet.

Eva narrowed her eyes, and was about to suggest that the first year should leave, when Valentina spoke up.

“Your _Expelliarmus_ needs more strength. You’re able to hit me most of the time, but so far you’ve only thrown off my aim.”

“I’ve given it all my strength!”

“Perhaps we should take a break,” Valentina suggested. “You must be tired from casting all those Shield Charms. _Protego_ requires more magic than the simpler offensive spells, and we practised that for almost an hour.”

“Look, just one last time,” Eva insisted, not wanting to give up. “Let’s try one last time, I’ll put more strength behind it.”

“Fine,” Valentina said, rolling her eyes. “But I’m using the Stunner, that’ll give you more motivation to disarm me.”

“Fine.”

Valentina gave a warning nod, waved her wand, then yelled, “ _Stupe--_ ”

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ”

“-- _fy_!”

The next series of events transpired before Eva’s eyes as though in slow motion.

Eva’s Disarming Charm hit Valentina before she could complete the incantation for her Stunner, but a stream of red magical energy was already emitting from her wand. The _Expelliarmus_ sent Valentina stumbling, her wand arm thrown back, but she was not completely disarmed. Magic continued streaming from Valentina’s wand, directly towards Juliana, then, somehow, veered off at the last second, harmlessly hitting the classroom’s wall, which was enchanted to absorb spells.

Eva stood dumbfounded, but Valentina had thrown her wand to the floor and practically flew towards Juliana, who seemed quite calm, remaining on her seat at the desk.

“Juls!” Valentina cried out, her voice trembling. “Are you okay?” she asked, cradling the other girl’s face as she stood in front of her. “I’m so sorry!”

“ _Sí_ ,” was Juliana’s calm response. “That spell didn’t hit me.”

That jolted Eva out of her shock.

“But it could have!” Valentina said as Eva made her way towards them.

“I’m fine, Val,” said Juliana, grabbing at Valentina’s hand on her face and giving it a quick squeeze.

“I don’t understand,” Eva said as she reached the younger girls, standing beside Valentina in front of Juliana. “That spell was going directly towards you. You should have been hit.”

Valentina opened her mouth, frowning at Eva, but she was distracted as Juliana moved to fish her wand out of her pocket.

“It’s warm,” Juliana murmured, staring down at her wand.

Eva hummed, contemplating. “You must have done some sort of accidental magic.” It was quite common among young witches and wizards. She turned towards her sister to see what she thought, but Valentina looked too shaken to make an opinion. “We should probably end this session here.”

Eva didn’t get any response. Valentina was gazing down plaintively at Juliana, her lips downturned into a pout. Juliana took her hand and held it tight, looking reassuringly up at Valentina.

Eva left them to their silent staring and turned to summon Valentina’s wand, without the use of her own wand. She and her siblings had a private tutor, hired by their father, who taught them wandless magic every summer since it was not part of Ilvermorny’s curriculum. It would never be as powerful and focused as magic using wands, but it was very useful for basic spells and charms.

Valentina’s wand flew easily towards Eva’s waiting hand. Like Juliana’s, it was warm to the touch, but Eva knew that could happen when casting spells. Her own wand had never heated up at a simple Stunning Spell, but different wands behaved differently for different people. She handed the wand to Valentina, who seemed to have calmed down and had taken a seat beside Juliana.

“I suggest you don’t come to our next practice sessions, Juliana,” Eva told the girl as she crossed her arms.

Valentina’s head snapped up towards her, but Juliana nodded and said, “ _Claro que sí_.”

“Juls--”

“It’s alright, Val,” Juliana said, reassuring. “I said I wanted to watch just this first one, remember? And I’m almost done with this,” she added, motioning to the pile of parchment in front of her. The topmost one was blank, but Eva was certain she’d been writing something down.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Eva asked the first year, “What were you writing anyway?”

“Uhm,” Juliana squirmed in her seat. She tucked her hair behind her ear as Valentina gave her a soft smile. “I wasn’t writing anything. I was drawing.”

“Drawing?” Eva dropped her arms to her side, interest piqued. “May I see?”

“Oh, uhm,” Juliana hesitated. She glanced over at Valentina, whose smile widened as she nudged Juliana with her shoulder. “I-- well, it’s not yet finished.”

“It’s still amazing, Juls,” said Valentina.

Eva waited expectantly until whatever silent conversation Valentina was having with Juliana convinced the latter to flip over the pile of parchment to reveal her drawing.

Valentina was prone to exaggeration, and ‘amazing’ might be a hyperbolic description of her friend’s drawing, but Eva had to admit that it was, at least, impressive. Juliana had drawn two witches in the middle of a duel. It was not in motion, but Eva could tell that it was done with the intention of making it so. It reminded her of those old works of art depicting legendary duels, but whereas those ancient works emphasized the spells being cast, Juliana clearly spent more time on the subjects’ outfits than the spells they were exchanging.

“It looks good,” Eva allowed.

Juliana smiled slightly. “ _Gracias_.”

“It’s amazing!” Valentina repeated.

Eva rolled her eyes. Juliana’s talent was obvious, but she had a long way to go to make something that merited the word Valentina was using. “You should know, however,” Eva needed to point out, “that in classical depictions of duels, the spells are usually drawn in better detail than the robes. It helps the viewer figure out what spells are being exchanged.”

Valentina and Juliana gaped at Eva.

After a moment, Juliana spoke up. “Maybe I’ll draw that spell coming right towards me,” she said wryly.

“That’s not funny, Juliana,” protested Valentina, and the two of them quickly devolved into a conversation about the comedic value of near misses.

Bored, Eva bid them goodbye and left them to their ridiculous discussion. She doubted either girl noticed her leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

Juliana woke from a light nudge on her shoulder. She kept her eyes closed, telling herself that she was in the safety of her dorm room and not on the couch where she’d used to sleep back in San Antonio. The hand on her shoulder was just Valentina, stirring in sleep and reaching out to her again, not Chino dragging her to wakefulness, angry that she had slept in.

She felt her shoulder being shaken gently once more, her name whispered. Faintly, she could hear Valentina’s breathing close to her ear.

Juliana opened her eyes to see Valentina’s face hovering close to hers, her blue eyes bright and wide and almost blinding. Startled, Juliana rolled to the other side in reflex and promptly fell over the side of the bed with a soft _woosh_ of the covers.

“Ow.”

“Oh no!” Valentina exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

Juliana squinted, both from sleepiness and at the dull pain on her hip. Thankfully, the dorm beds were on a wooden platform, raised several feet above the stone floor with enough room for a study area below. The pain in her hip was already starting to fade.

“I’m so sorry, Juls.”

Juliana looked up at Valentina, whose head was poking over the side of the bed, gazing down at her with concern.

Juliana gave her a slight smile but said nothing, too sleepy to talk. She got up on her feet and threw herself back on the bed, face down and over the covers, barely waiting for Valentina to move back and make room for her.

“Are you hurt?”

Juliana grunted, shaking her head no.

“I’m sorry.”

Juliana hummed, letting Valentina know that it was alright.

“Are you awake?”

Juliana made a rumbling noise. She was not certain.

“What does that mean?”

Juliana gave no reply, already drifting back to sleep.

After several minutes, Valentina spoke up again. “Juls…”

“Hm?”

“Come on, we’re exchanging presents today, remember?”

That got Juliana to turn her head and open an eye to look at Valentina. It was their last day in Ilvermorny until after the holiday break. Tomorrow, Valentina and her sister would be going to their grand home in Mexico to celebrate Christmas with their dad. Meanwhile, Juliana would be leaving Ilvermorny to go back to the tiny trailer in San Antonio. Chino would be there with her mom.

Juliana pushed the thought away to focus on Valentina, who was gazing expectantly at her, waiting for a response. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost seven.”

“Val,” Juliana protested, closing her eyes again and hiding her face on her pillow. For the past week, they’d taken full advantage of the winter break and had always slept in until at least eight in the morning. Juliana had always been the one to wake up first. She had only known Valentina for two months, but somehow she was not surprised that Valentina had woken first today, and at a much earlier time than usual.

“Juliana...”

“It’s too early,” said Juliana, her voice muffled by her pillow.

“But it’s presents time! I can’t wait to give you your gift. I hope you’ll like it.”

Juliana was keen to see Valentina’s reaction over her gift too. She didn’t -- and couldn’t -- spend a lot of money on it, but she had given it a lot of thought and time, and she hoped she did not disappoint Valentina. She communicated all of this with a grunt.

Valentina giggled, then fell silent. A few minutes later, she started singing. Juliana had never heard the song before, but it sounded like a wizarding Christmas song, the lyrics describing a Golden Snitch inside a large _piñata_.

Giving in, Juliana flipped onto her back and squinted up at Valentina, who had sat up against the headboard.

Valentina was still in her pyjamas, but she looked wide awake, her long sleep-mussed hair swept to one side over her shoulder. She cracked a wide smile when she saw Juliana rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. As Juliana started to sit up, Valentina bounced on the bed, moving to settle herself on her knees facing Juliana. Valentina held a thin, neatly wrapped red box in her hands, which she rested on her lap. She was vibrating with an excited, almost nervous energy, so unlike her usual early morning self.

“Hey, where are you going?” Valentina asked as Juliana got out of bed.

Juliana crouched down by the bed and pulled out one of the drawers underneath, where she had hidden Valentina’s present. Having retrieved the present, she stood up and was met with Valentina’s openly staring face.

“Oh,” Valentina said with a smile, her eyes drifting to the item in Juliana’s hands.

Juliana was suddenly overcome with shyness. The present in Valentina’s lap was so neatly wrapped it could have only been done at a shop. She knew Valentina spent way more money on it than Juliana could for her gift. She combed her hair back with one hand as she took a seat on the edge of the bed, one leg underneath her and one leg dangling over the side.

“Uhm,” she said, eloquently. “Here,” she thrust Valentina’s gift towards her, not quite meeting her eyes. “You should open yours first.” That way, if Valentina was disappointed with her gift, Juliana could simply refuse hers.

*

Valentina put aside her gift for Juliana and accepted the small sealed paper bag Juliana was holding out to her. It was fashioned out of the wrapping paper they’d used for Jane and Lina’s gifts. Valentina smiled up at Juliana, appreciating her resourcefulness.

Juliana was biting the tips of her fingernails, her brows creased in a slight frown. Valentina reached out and pulled Juliana’s hand away from her mouth. Juliana gave her a sheepish smile and Valentina returned it with a wide grin before turning her attention back to her present.

Valentina usually tore the wrapping paper of her presents, but the small bag Juliana made was so nice that she didn’t want to ruin it. She turned it around in her hands, wondering how best to open it.

“You can just tear it open,” Juliana said, chuckling.

“But--”

“Go on.”

Impatient and excited, Valentina didn’t need further encouragement. She tore the paper bag open at the top, eagerly looking inside it. Uncertain as to what she was seeing, she tipped the bag over to get a better view of its contents.

Out fell several woven bracelets, in different colours and different geometric patterns. It was like the bracelets Juliana wore, ones that always fascinated Valentina because Juliana had told her she’d made them by hand.

“Did you make this yourself?” Valentina asked softly, running her hand over the bracelets. There were six of them; one had the colours of the Mexican flag, two were in different combined shades of blue, one was black with a gold and silver pattern, and two were in red combined with yellow and white.

“ _Sí_ ,” said Juliana. “Uhm, that one’s supposed to be for the Mexican Quidditch Team,” she pointed to the red, green, and white bracelet. “But I didn’t know how to make a Quetzalcoatl pattern, so I guess it can just be for Mexico?”

Valentina smiled up at her, indicating that it was alright. The square and diamond patterns on the bracelets were very pretty.

“That one’s the Golden Snitch,” Juliana continued, pointing to the gold- and silver-patterned bracelet. “The blues are for-- well, to match your eyes. The reds are because you said that’s your favourite colour.”

Valentina picked up the Golden Snitch bracelet and one of the blue ones, staring at their pattern. She was amazed by how well they were done, and that Juliana made not one but _six_ of them for her.

“I, uh-- do you like it?” Juliana asked in a small voice.

Valentina abruptly looked up at her. “Like it? Juls… _me encantan_ , _son tan hermosas_. These are the most beautiful things I’ve ever received,” she said honestly. “How long did it even take you to make all of these? They’re so pretty!” She couldn’t help but gush. Juliana was always _so good_ with making beautiful things, and it made her feel all kinds of amazing when Juliana made something for _her_.

“Oh good,” said Juliana, her nervous smile turning into a wide grin. “And it took me like a month? I started making that one--” she pointed to the red and white bracelet, “--when you first asked about mine. Then I thought I wanted to make you that one--” she pointed to the light blue bracelet, “--and all those other ones too.”

Valentina gazed at Juliana with watery eyes, touched by the obvious thought Juliana put into her gift, by the fact that Juliana couldn’t stop with just one bracelet.

“ _Son hermosas_ ,” Valentina said again, not caring that she was sounding like a broken record. “ _Gracias_.”

“There is something else,” said Juliana.

Valentina stared wide-eyed at Juliana. What else could she possibly give her?

Juliana got up from the bed and stepped towards her bedside table. She opened its drawer and took out her sketchbook, putting it on top of the table, before pulling out another item. She turned back towards Valentina, revealing another bracelet identical to the red and white one she’d given her.

Juliana looked shy as she sat back down on the bed, facing Valentina, but with one leg dangling over the edge. She held the red and white bracelet in both hands, worrying the length of it with her thumbs.

“I don’t know if friendship bracelets are a thing here?” Juliana asked, tucking her hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture.

Valentina nodded her head in affirmation. In fact, she and Nayeli had matching goblin-made gold and platinum bracelets. Nayeli had cajoled her into buying a pair for the both of them last year. Eva had been livid when she’d found out, but Valentina didn’t care; she liked giving gifts to her friends. Nayeli wore hers often and even showed it off to all of their friends when she had first gotten it, but she didn’t seem to mind when Valentina only wore hers occasionally. Valentina found it too heavy -- not to mention fancy -- for daily wear.

“Right,” said Juliana. “I thought,” she swallowed, “I thought… we could have this?” she gestured to the bracelet in her hands and to the identical one on the bed between them. “Like a-- a thing, for, uh… stuff.”

Valentina understood her perfectly. She started tearing up.

“Oh, no,” Juliana began worriedly, “don’t-- I know it’s not too fancy-- _oof!_ ”

Valentina pushed herself forwards and practically flew at Juliana, almost toppling the both of them over the edge of the bed as she embraced her. They hugged for several minutes, Valentina sobbing and laughing at the same time, overwhelmed by the myriad of feelings spilling out of her, some of them familiar but most of them inexplicable. The only thing she knew for certain was that she was the luckiest girl in the world for being able to call Juliana her friend.

“ _No llores, Val_ ,” Juliana said gently.

Valentina laughed at that. She pulled away from Juliana to wipe her tears, then leaned forward again to bump their foreheads together. “ _Gracias_ , Juls. You’re my best friend.”

With their faces inches away from each other, Valentina could perfectly see the way Juliana’s eyes widened, then watered at her pronouncement. She swallowed several times before saying, “You’re my best friend too, Val.”

Valentina shifted and hugged Juliana again. She could feel Juliana slowly bring her arms up to her shoulders, returning the embrace.

“ _Te quiero, Juls_ ,” Valentina whispered.

“ _Yo tambien Val,_ ” said Juliana.

Eventually, Valentina pulled away from their embrace. She turned her attention back to the bracelets and picked all of them up. “Put it on me?” she asked, extending both hands out to Juliana.

“What-- _all_ of them?” asked Juliana. “You don’t-- you don’t have to wear all of them at once, Val,” she said, grinning.

“I want to.”

“Okay,” Juliana said with a chuckle, putting down her own bracelet.

Juliana reached out for the bracelets in Valentina’s hands and, one by one, started tying them around her right wrist. When Juliana picked up the red and white bracelet, Valentina thrust out her left hand and instructed, “put it here.” Juliana smiled and wordlessly tied the friendship bracelet around Valentina’s left wrist.

After Juliana was done with all of Valentina’s bracelets, Valentina picked up Juliana’s and dangled it in front of her, smiling widely. Juliana extended both hands out; she was wearing bracelets on both wrists. Valentina gave her a questioning look, which Juliana answered by removing the bracelet on her left wrist and transferring it to her right. With Juliana’s left wrist bare, Valentina reached out and tied the friendship bracelet around it.

That done, they both looked up, beaming at each other, and Valentina leaned forward to punctuate the whole exchange with a hug.

After a moment, Valentina pulled back and picked up her gift for Juliana. She cleared her throat several times, trying to tamp down on her nerves. “It’s your turn,” she said, holding out the thin red box to Juliana. She felt her gift paled in comparison to the bracelets she got from Juliana, but, “I-- I hope you like it.”

Juliana accepted her gift and slowly, carefully unwrapped it. Valentina’s stomach churned. Juliana set aside the wrapping paper so she was left with a simple wooden box. She turned it around until she found its lock. She pulled the lever, opening the box to reveal a mirror-like object that could easily be held in one hand.

It was a Floo Glass, a recent invention which was based on the Two-Way Mirror. However, while communication with the latter could only come and go between two paired enchanted mirrors, the Floo Glass could be paired with multiple other devices. Two-Way Mirrors were also much rarer, old magic devices that were passed down from one generation to the next. When Valentina was a child, a group of witches and wizards had figured out the magic of the old Two-Way Mirrors and found a way to expand it to more than a single pair. A few years ago, they had managed to mass produce it.

“Do you like it?” Valentina asked nervously when Juliana only stared at it.

“I-- Val, isn’t this too expensive?” Juliana said.

“We already agreed that you wouldn’t mind how much I spent for your gift,” Valentina protested, a little hurt.

“No, we agreed on fifteen galleons,” Juliana pointed out. “Is this really fifteen galleons? _Neta?_ ”

Valentina looked sideways. “No, it’s twenty. But Juls,” she continued hurriedly before Juliana could protest. “Let me explain, please?” she asked, pouting at Juliana.

*

Juliana let out a breath.

Her gift for Valentina cost her less than one galleon, since she’d used Muggle materials. Now Valentina was giving her a gift that cost five galleons _extra_ than the amount they’d agreed on. The whole thing cost two months’ worth of the allowance she got from Ilvermorny.

She gazed at Valentina, taking in her plaintive expression, the crease on her forehead, the pout she was wearing, the earnest look in her eyes.

“Okay.”

Valentina smiled in obvious relief. “Okay, look,” she started, shifting on the bed and reaching out so that she had Juliana’s hand -- and the box she was holding -- sandwiched between both of hers. “We’re going to be apart for two weeks over the holidays, and I’d still like us to continue talking. I already paired this with my own Floo Glass. I don’t want to use Valiant because it’s going to take like half a day or more for him to fly from Mexico City to San Antonio. Using owls for sending messages is outdated, anyway, and what if sending owls to where you live will draw suspicion from your Muggle neighbours?”

Juliana nodded. Not only would it draw suspicion from her neighbours, it was also very likely that Chino would kill Valiant out of irritation. She shuddered at the thought. Valentina would never forgive her for it. She’d never forgive herself either. She’d grown to love Valentina’s great gray owl; he was as affectionate as his owner.

“So really,” Valentina continued, “this gift is not just for you, it’s for me too,” she added, giving Juliana a lopsided smile.

Juliana returned the smile, though she couldn’t help but worry. “Val, I don’t know if I’d be able to talk to you all the time when I’m home,” she said. Chino had no idea that she was a witch and she intended to keep it that way. She didn’t have her own room at her family’s trailer; she’d have to get away from the house or wait for Chino to leave before she could call Valentina. She didn’t know how to explain this without telling Valentina about Chino, so she gave a half-truth, “I might be working… to-- to help my mom.”

Valentina’s face fell briefly before she gave Juliana a reassuring smile. “That’s okay. Call me whenever you can, I’m not doing a lot over the break. And it’s not just for this Christmas, it’s also for the summer, that’s going to be a longer break. And for all the other holidays after that.”

Juliana swallowed, touched by Valentina’s words, by the fact that Valentina thought they’d still be friends for the years to come.

“It’s not just for the holidays either,” said Valentina. “Now we can call each other when we’re on opposite sides of the castle, instead of always having to meet at the common room after class.”

Juliana smiled. They’d made a routine of it, but she had sometimes wished there was an easier way to meet up that didn’t involve trekking across the whole length of Ilvermorny.

“Besides, I’m not the only one you could call,” Valentina continued. “I also paired Professor Borges’ Floo Glass with yours. She told me to tell you that you can call her whenever you want.

“ _And_ … the reason it cost five galleons more than what we’d agreed on is because this can be paired with Muggle phones too. You won’t have to go up to the Phone Room every other week to call your mom.”

“Val…” Juliana said, not knowing what else to say.

“I haven’t paired it with your mom’s phone because I don’t know her… uhm… identification number? Is that what it’s called? But I know how to do it. Just give me her identification and I’ll do it right now.”

“Phone number,” said Juliana with a smile, charmed by how Valentina knew enough about the Muggle world to understand technology, but not enough to know all of the terminologies. It was very cute. “It’s just called a phone number,” she said, her voice threatening to break.

It filled Juliana’s heart with such warmth that Valentina had thought to make sure that she could contact her mother too.

“ _Gracias, Val, neta_ ,” she continued, putting the hand Valentina wasn’t holding on top of their pile of hands. “I’m sorry I was being ungrateful. This is… this is the best gift I’ve ever received,” she told Valentina honestly.

It wasn’t about the money, Juliana recognised now. Valentina had given her the gift of connection, to her mom when she was in Ilvermorny, to Valentina and the rest of the wizarding world when she would eventually have to go back to the trailer park in San Antonio.

Valentina broke out into the biggest, most adorable smile then. Her eyes crinkled, her dimples showing. “Do you want me to pair this with your mom’s phone number?”

Juliana nodded eagerly. “ _Sí, porfa._ ”

“Okay,” Valentina said, disentangling their hands and moving across the bed to get to the side table, where she took out one of the coloured pens Juliana used for drawing. “Could you hand me the Glass, please? And give me your mom’s phone number?”

Juliana did so, and Valentina wrote down the number on the face of the mirror-like device. She cast a spell on it, told Juliana to whisper her mom’s name to the mirror, then cast a follow-up spell.

“There, all done,” Valentina said proudly, handing the mirror back to Juliana. “Normally, we put two Glasses together and cast a hybrid Binding Spell and Protean Charm on them. It sounds difficult, but the Floo Glass itself actually helps out, it’s already imbued with those spells. It’s different for Muggle iden-- I mean, phone numbers. It has to be imbued with additional magic, that’s why it’s more expensive, but the spells to pair them are actually easier.”

“Okay, Val,” Juliana said in that tone she used to let Valentina know she didn’t know what she was talking about.

Valentina crinkled her nose at Juliana, clearly amused. “Do you wanna try it out?”

“Yes,” Juliana replied, smiling.

“Okay, stay there,” said Valentina. She jumped out of the bed, climbed the short, narrow flight of stairs down to the dormitory floor, and sped out of the room.

Before Juliana could question what Valentina was up to, the mirror-like device in her hand clouded over in rainbow colours. She heard Valentina’s voice coming from it, calling out her name.

Juliana stared at the mirror. Valentina hadn’t told her how to answer a call. It wasn’t like Muggle phones, where you only needed to press the green button. There was no green button -- or any button at all -- on the surface of the mirror.

“Uh… yes?” she whispered to the Floo Glass, feeling silly.

Nothing happened.

“Juliana?” came Valentina’s voice. “Juls, just call out my name.”

“Oh, uhm… Val?”

The Glass cleared up. Valentina’s brightly smiling face swam into view. “ _Hola!_ ”


	8. Chapter 8

After trying out Juliana’s new Floo Glass for over half an hour, talking to each other from their respective dorm rooms, Juliana and Valentina decided to change out of their pyjamas and come down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

The Great Hall was, in Juliana’s opinion, the grandest of all the grand rooms in Ilvermorny. It was located at the heart of the castle’s main wing, with several entrances leading towards it, but its walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling panels spelled to act as windows to the world outside. At one end of the Hall, spanning the length of one wall, there was a long counter where students could request for whatever food they liked from a set menu. Dozens of wooden tables and benches were arranged in neat rows throughout the Hall, with long tables normally at the middle and shorter ones around the sides.

Like the Pukwudgie common room, a variety of bright and colourful Christmas baubles floated above, with the added effect of softly falling snowflakes that never quite reached anybody’s head. At the very center of the Hall, the long tables rearranged to make space for it, was a towering Christmas tree that seemed to have taken root on the very floor. In fact, the tree had sprouted out of it after Thanksgiving, growing quickly and steadily over the past month that it had almost reached the high ceiling. The magical snowflakes fell and rested on the tree’s branches and needles, unmelting but somehow never overflowing. Apart from the snow, the large tree was decorated with fairy lights and hundreds of transparent glass bubbles, each containing different objects in a variety of colours.

On the first of December, Juliana and her fellow first years had hung their own ornaments on the tree, their respective glass bubbles containing an object each one of them had imagined, in miniature. Valentina had told her that she had a winged horse for her own Christmas bubble. It took a while for Juliana to think of something, but in the end she’d settled on a sketchbook, holding her bubble with both hands and concentrating until the object appeared within it. Her ornament would be displayed on the tree every Christmas until she graduated.

Juliana smiled at the tree as she passed by it. That short ceremony at the beginning of December, with her classmates asking what her ornament was and showing theirs in return, and having something she’d imagined on an object that seemed to grow out of the very castle itself, was the first time she’d ever felt that she was truly part of Ilvermorny.

Valentina led the way towards their favourite table. It was right by one of the spelled windows, giving them a view of Ilvermorny’s expansive grounds as well as the valley below Mount Greylock. The table, which could seat six people, was prime real estate and other groups of students had often beaten them to it. When they did get a chance to occupy it, they had always shared with Jane and Lina, or Sergio, or once, a couple of Valentina’s roommates. However, now that school was on break and there were so few students in the castle, Juliana and Valentina were able to claim the table as theirs with no contest.

“What do you wanna eat?” Valentina asked as they reached their table.

Juliana knew that meant Valentina was volunteering to get their breakfast this time. They’d always taken turns, with one of them saving the table while the other got the food. It had been useful when they had to compete with many other students for a good spot, and they’d gotten in the habit of it even now when very few tables were occupied.

“Uhm, just whatever you’re getting please,” said Juliana. She had never been a picky eater, and the simplest fare at Ilvermorny was often far better than anything she’d had in her life before.

“I’ll get us pancakes.”

“You always want pancakes,” Juliana pointed out, grinning.

“It’s fluffy and delicious!”

Juliana chuckled at that.

Valentina turned on her heel and headed towards the ordering counter, but not before sticking her tongue out at Juliana and threatening to not get her anything. Unfazed, Juliana considered yelling after her to get _chilaquiles_ if they were being offered that morning, but she knew Valentina would do that without being asked. Besides, Ilvermorny rarely served anything other than American-style breakfast food.

Juliana felt a pang in her chest as she thought of her mother’s _chilaquiles_. She missed her mom, but the version of her when Chino wasn’t around. Earlier, when Valentina had asked Juliana if she wanted to try calling her mom with her new Floo Glass, Juliana had to make up an excuse about Lupé being busy at work. She hadn’t wanted to risk the chance of Chino being there when Lupé received her call.

She turned her attention to the window to keep those thoughts at bay. The wind had picked up again after that sunny gift of a calm weather a couple of days ago. Outside, snow fell at an angle towards the ground, much heavier than the spelled snowflakes inside the Great Hall.

Juliana looked up, noting that the collection of baubles hovering over their table was distinctly missing candy canes. After Valentina had figured out how to spell them out of their suspended state, she’d taken any chance she could to steal them from the floating decorations. Valentina’s study desk in her dormitory was currently covered with a pile of candy canes, like a small trophy collection of her mischievous achievements. Juliana still had the mistletoe that Valentina accidentally took out during her initial attempts, hidden inside one of the drawers in her desk. She made a mental note to throw that mistletoe in the bin; unlike Valentina, she was wary of getting into trouble.

Juliana was distracted from her thoughts by Valentina herself, carrying a tray heaped with pancakes, bacon and eggs, and two mugs of steaming hot chocolate filled with marshmallows.

They were just starting on their breakfast, Valentina cutting up her pancakes while Juliana sipped some hot chocolate, when Professor Borges came up to them.

“ _Hola niñas_ ,” she greeted. She’d always spoken to them in Spanish when no one else was in the conversation.

“ _Hola_ Professor,” they greeted in unison.

The Muggle Studies teacher asked after them, what they’d been up to for the past week and how their morning was going. After they’d told her of the past week’s activities -- the ones that wouldn’t get them into trouble, at least -- Professor Borges dug into her robe pocket and took out two festively wrapped items. “I wanted to give you these,” she said, handing one each to Juliana and Valentina.

“Professor,” Juliana said as she hesitantly took what was obviously a present, “you didn’t have to. I--” she looked down at the wrapped object in her hands, “I didn’t even get you anything.”

Professor Borges put a hand on the table, catching Juliana’s attention and waiting to speak until Juliana looked up at her. “I wanted to, Juliana,” she said sincerely. “And don’t worry about not getting me anything. Students aren’t allowed to give presents to teachers, as Valentina here well knows,” she added, smiling at the girl in question.

Juliana turned towards Valentina to see her smiling sheepishly, her cheeks flushing. “Thank you, for the present Professor,” she said, changing the subject. She turned it around in her hands. “Is this a book?”

“Maybe.”

“It’s a book, isn’t it?” Valentina insisted, grinning widely. “I _know_ it’s a book.”

Professor Borges started to reply, but she was interrupted as Eva and Mateo came up to join them.

“ _Hola_ ,” Eva greeted. “Oh, Professor Borges,” she said, glancing at her. “Good morning.”

“Good morning Eva, Mateo.”

Eva smiled slightly, but Mateo gave a huge grin. “Good morning, Professor,” he greeted warmly.

“Juliana,” said Eva, turning to her. Juliana’s eyes widened, not expecting Eva’s attention on her. “I wanted to give you this,” she said, holding out a big book towards Juliana. Its cover was a moving drawing of a witch conjuring a silvery horse, which galloped around golden letters that read ‘A History of Magical Arts’. “It’s about the development of art through the ages. There are many illustrations in there that depict how magic was used in the past, as well as some overview on how they were captured in art form.”

Juliana stared at the book in her hands, speechless at being on the receiving end of Eva’s generosity. She looked up at Valentina, who beamed at her.

“That’s a good book,” said Professor Borges, though Juliana barely heard her.

“You’ve read it?” asked Eva.

“Yes. I remember there were several copies of that book at the Camaxhual library. I believe they were donated by your family.”

“That would have been our mother,” said Eva. “She loved magical art history too.”

“ _Perdon_ ,” said Professor Borges. “I’m sorry.”

Eva waved her hand dismissively. “You couldn’t have known.”

Juliana had been staring at her new book, but she looked up at Valentina at the mention of the Carvajal matriarch. Valentina’s smile had turned melancholy, her blue eyes clouded.

Wanting to distract Valentina, Juliana finally spoke up. “Eva, thank you for the book. I really appreciate it,” she said earnestly. “And thank you so much for the gift, Professor.

“ _De nada_ , Juliana,” replied Professor Borges. “I hope you’ll make good use of it.”

On the other hand, Eva just nodded. “If you’re going to make magical art, it’s important to know about its history.”

Not knowing what to make of Eva’s response, Juliana turned to Valentina. Her smile was still tempered with sadness. So Juliana kicked her under the table. It earned her a surprised look, followed by the huge grin she’d been aiming for.

Valentina kicked her back, smiling mischievously.

Juliana gave her a mock-affronted look.

She was about to retaliate when she noticed Guille, approaching them from behind Valentina, gesturing for them all to be quiet. When he was right behind her, Guille put his hands over Valentina’s eyes.

Valentina gasped, raising her hands up to the ones around her. “Who is this?” she asked, patting her hand all over her brother’s arms. Several moments passed in which Juliana and everyone else grinned at her, and then, “Guille!?”

Guille dropped his hands, laughing.

Valentina turned around to confirm her guess. “Guille!” she squealed at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing around the Great Hall. She jumped up on her seat, turning around, then flung herself towards her brother, clinging to him like a koala bear.

Guille stumbled backwards, almost falling over had it not been for Mateo, who reached out to steady him.

Juliana gazed at them, grinning from ear to ear, happy to bask in Valentina’s obvious joy at seeing her brother.

*

“Guille!” Valentina exclaimed again. Her brother had put her down, but she still had her arms around him. “What are you doing here? I thought you still had one more Quidditch match to see! And you said you’ll see us at home,” she said accusatorily, though there was no real bite behind it.

Guille shrugged. “We were only going to see the USA vs Brazil friendly today. Mexico’s not playing. I figured spending time with you all is better.”

He glanced briefly towards Eva, smiling at her. She returned his smile. Valentina couldn’t contain her grin, so happy she was to see her big brother.

“I have something for you,” he added, walking towards where he’d dropped a paper bag. He picked up the bag, fishing out a fluttering Golden Snitch encased in a glass cube. “Here,” he held the item out to Valentina. “That’s not your actual Christmas present, of course, but you could add it to your collection. I got it from the gift shop at the Hammers’ stadium.”

Valentina took the Golden Snitch. Etched across the base of the glass casing were the words ‘Caught by Valentina Bianchi, Italy’ along with the date of the match, about five years ago. Valentina held the gift close to her chest. “ _Gracias, hermanito_.”

Guille gave her a wide grin before digging back into the paper bag and fishing out a blue and gold scarf. He approached the breakfast table, holding out the scarf to Juliana, who had been gazing at the two of them with a cute smile on her face.

“This is for you, Juliana,” he said. “I know you’re not a big Quidditch fan, but everyone wants a scarf right? I hope you don’t mind the Finches design, I picked that because they’re kind of Ilvermorny’s ‘home team’.”

Juliana seemed dumbstruck as she received Guille’s gift. Valentina wanted to hug her, and she could give her brother a kiss for thinking of her dearest friend.

“Thanks, Guille,” Juliana croaked out. She looked around, and Valentina could tell that she was getting uncomfortable with the attention on her.

“Yet,” Valentina spoke up, turning everyone’s focus back to her. “She’s not a Quidditch fan _yet_.”

Guille and Mateo chuckled while Eva rolled her eyes, but the relieved smile Juliana shot her way was what Valentina had been aiming for.

“Uhm,” Guille said after a moment, scratching the back of his head. “I didn’t get you anything, sorry,” he said to Eva. “You hate Quidditch, anyway.”

“I think I’ll survive,” Eva replied wryly.

“Oh, you’ll have breakfast with us, won’t you?” Valentina cut in, reaching out for her brother’s hand. “You too Eva, Mateo,” she added, pleading. “ _Porfa?_ ”

“Of course,” Guille replied immediately.

“Why not,” said Eva, shrugging.

Mateo nodded enthusiastically. “I’d love to.”

Professor Borges cleared her throat. “I’ll leave you all to it, then.”

“What? No,” Valentina said quickly. “I thought you’d already be staying, Professor, so I didn’t ask you. Please have breakfast with us. _Por favor?_ ”

Professor Borges smiled at her. “Thank you for the invite, Valentina. And I would love to, really, but I’d best join the other teachers.”

Valentina pouted, but Professor Borges promised that she would see them off the next day, so she decided not to protest.

Breakfast was a happy affair.

Valentina sat between Juliana and Guille, while Eva and Mateo sat across from them. Mateo and Guille went to the ordering counter, coming back with more pancakes, bacon and eggs and sausages, a big bowl of sliced fruits, and a pitcher of orange juice for everyone to share.

As they all dug in, Mateo asked Guille about the matches he’d gone to see, and Guille regaled everyone with highlights of each game. Valentina was pleased to see Juliana listening with interest, but a bored Eva roped her into a conversation about different spells to make drawings move. Valentina’s focus drifted to them even though Guille and Mateo were discussing an exciting play in one of the matches. Mostly, however, Guille and Eva kept telling Juliana about Valentina’s antics as a kid, and as much as Valentina pretended to pout, her heart glowed at Juliana’s delighted giggles over her childhood shenanigans.

Valentina could not contain her beaming smile throughout the entire meal, thrilled as she was to be having breakfast with the people she loved -- _at the same time_.

After breakfast, Eva and Mateo excused themselves to go to the library for one more study session. Valentina and Juliana went back to the Pukwudgie common room, Guille tagging along and promising to hang out with them for the rest of the day.

There was nobody else in the common room, so the three of them laid themselves out on the couch by the fireplace, humming with satisfaction from their large breakfast. Valentina and Juliana chatted animatedly, jumping from one topic to another, until Guille, who claimed that he couldn’t understand half the things they were talking about, proposed that they play a game instead.

They played a few rounds of Exploding Snaps, Valentina winning every time, while Guille ended up with singed eyebrows and Juliana got soot on the tip of her nose. After that, Valentina and Guille played a simulation game of Seeking on a miniature board while Juliana watched, cheering every time Valentina caught the tiny Golden Snitch. Having lost again, Guille challenged Valentina to his favourite game, Gobstones. Valentina declined, scrunching her nose at the uncool game, but Juliana agreed when Guille asked her to play. Juliana didn’t know the rules of the game, but Guille taught her patiently. Whether through beginner’s luck or a previously undiscovered skill, she beat Guille soundly, their game ending with Guille covered in dark ink and Valentina laughing openly at him.

The rest of the day passed in the same manner, with the three of them playing different board games, taking breaks for lunch, afternoon snacks, and dinner. After dinner, Guille went to hang out with Gwen and Maddie and a few other older students, leaving Valentina and Juliana to their own devices.

That night, Valentina and Juliana were once again by themselves in the Pukwudgie common room, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the couch in front of the crackling fire. Juliana was copying a drawing from her old sketchpad to the new one, which was part of Professor Borges’ gift along with a bag to hold her art materials. Valentina, on the other hand, had gotten a Muggle short story collection from Professor Borges; she idly leafed through it while glancing at Juliana’s sketch from time to time.

Valentina let out a sigh, staring at Juliana’s profile. “I’ll miss you for the rest of the break, Juls.”

Valentina and her siblings were going home to Mexico tomorrow, Christmas Eve. She was looking forward to seeing her dad, but she didn’t want to say goodbye to Juliana. The last week with her had been the best Christmas holiday of Valentina’s life since her mom died. She almost wanted to ask Juliana to come to Mexico with her, but Juliana needed to go home to _her mom_ in Texas. Valentina felt selfish, wanting Juliana to spend all of winter break with her.

Juliana hummed sympathetically. “I’ll miss you too Val,” she said, stopping her sketching.

Valentina leaned her head on Juliana’s shoulder, reaching out to play with the red and white bracelet on Juliana’s left wrist. She gazed at the drawing Juliana was working on. It was a dress in a cool shade of blue, inspired by the ‘girl on fire’ idea from the book they’d been reading. Juliana had told her that she went with blue and ice in honour of the season.

Head still on Juliana’s shoulder, Valentina looked up at her. “Promise you’ll call? We still haven’t finished the book series, you know. You have to call me so we can read together.”

“Val,” said Juliana, turning so her cheek was against the top of Valentina’s head, “you can finish the book by yourself. You don’t have to wait for me.”

Valentina shook her head fervently. “No, we started that book together, I wanna finish it together with you. I have other books to read. But if you call me, we’ll finish that book quicker,” she added cheekily.

Juliana chuckled. Valentina could feel her shoulders shaking. “I’ll call you, I promise.”

“Good.”

Valentina looked down at their hands, lying side by side on Juliana’s lap, their matching bracelets seemingly entangled. “Thank you for this bracelet, Juls,” she said, twitching her hand to indicate what she meant. It wasn’t just a bracelet, not at all. What Juliana had given her was the gift of friendship. Of best-friendship. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever received. _Pero neta_ ,” she hesitated for a moment, but quickly resolved to say what she was thinking, “ _eres mi regalo para este año_.”

Juliana’s breath whistled as she let out a long sigh. Valentina could feel her body sagging against the couch. “Val.”

Valentina smiled softly. Juliana was always awkward when it came to words of affection. She almost wanted to apologise, but, “I mean it.”

Juliana breathed in deeply before letting out another long exhale. She swallowed before speaking. “ _Tú tambien_ ,” she said. Valentina could hear the slight quiver in her voice. “I-- I mean,” she stuttered out. “Yeah. _Yo tambien_.”

Valentina sat up, needing to look at Juliana.

Juliana returned Valentina’s gaze, her smile shaky.

Valentina smiled widely before leaning towards Juliana again to wrap her in a tight hug. Juliana grunted, but she twisted around to reciprocate, her arms going around Valentina’s shoulders. Valentina could feel Juliana’s thumb rubbing the base of her neck, warm and comforting. Valentina burrowed further into Juliana’s embrace.

She didn’t say it in so many words, but Valentina knew -- _hoped_ \-- that Juliana felt the same.

She was the best thing that happened to her this year.

.

.

.

#### Epilogue

Valentina walks up the paved path from the Carvajal mansion’s gatehouse to the large main house, bringing the collar of her robes up to her chin to protect her neck from the cold winter air. Eva and Guille are ahead of her, the two of them debating the merits of the mansion’s new security measures which prevents anyone from Flooing or Apparating directly into the main house. All of their luggage have already been taken care of by a couple of the household staff.

The mansion’s large wooden door swing open as they walk up to it, revealing Chivis’ smiling face.

“ _Niños_ ,” she greets. “Welcome home. _Los extrañé tanto_.” She approaches Valentina directly, cradling her face in her hands. “And I missed you most, _mi niña_.”

“I missed you too, Chivis,” Valentina returns the sentiment before going in for a long hug.

After Valentina steps back, Guille comes up to them to give Chivis a bear hug, and finally Eva gives her a short and perfunctory one.

“Is dad here yet?” Valentina asks as Chivis ushers them into the house.

“No, but he is on the way here and should arrive a little after lunch time,” Chivis says reassuringly.

Valentina nods, tamping down on her disappointment. She can confirm it for herself by checking the family clock in the kitchen, but she trusts Chivis’ word. She gives Chivis a close-mouthed smile, showing that she understands. It’s better than last year, at least, when he arrived from a business trip already past midnight, missing _noche buena_.

“Why don’t you all go freshen up,” Chivis suggests gently, “and I’ll have lunch ready when you come back down.”

After a round of ‘ _gracias_ ’ for Chivis, the Carvajal children march up the large staircase, Eva taking the lead with Valentina and Guille behind her. Guille throws an arm over Valentina’s shoulder; she smiles up at her brother, accepting the comforting weight of his arm around her. They separate from Eva at the landing and Guille walks Valentina to her room, pressing a kiss to her temple before heading towards his own bedroom.

Valentina enters her room and dives onto the bed, rolling around until she is lying face up in the middle, limbs stretched in different directions, like an overturned starfish. She soon brings her arms together, rubbing at them to warm up. Despite its climate control magic, _la casa de Carvajal_ has always been a little bit too cold for Valentina’s liking.

She breathes in and out in quick succession, trying to fight the feeling of loneliness that’s creeping at the edge of her senses. She looks around her room to distract herself, her gaze falling on the hanging rack where she has put up pictures of her family and friends. Realising that she and Juliana have no photos together, she makes a mental note to take a picture with her when they see each other again at school.

With that thought, Valentina brings her left hand up to her face, gazing at the friendship bracelet Juliana gave her. A smile creeps up on her lips. Juliana said that she made the bracelet by hand, without any spells, but the sight of it is magically making Valentina feel warmer.

***

Juliana tightens her jacket around herself and adjusts her backpack as she makes her way to her family’s trailer. She misses her warm robes.

Her mother walks in step beside her, arm around her shoulders.

Despite Juliana’s protests that she knows the way, Lupé picked her up at a Floo Station disguised as a run-down diner at the outskirts of San Antonio. They had to take a bus to get to the trailer park where they live. During the hour-long ride, Lupé tried to ask Juliana about her extra week’s stay at Ilvermorny, but Juliana couldn’t tell her too much because they were surrounded by Muggles. So instead, Lupé told her about how Chino was waiting for them at their trailer, how much he was looking forward to seeing Juliana again, and how they would be celebrating Christmas as one happy family.

Lupé’s arm feels heavy and awkward on Juliana’s shoulders. The wind howls around them.

Presently, they arrive at their trailer. Lupé opens the door and ushers Juliana in, closing it behind her. The door rattles in its hinges as the wind blows against it. Juliana misses Ilvermorny’s magically reinforced walls.

Chino is indeed waiting for them, sitting on the couch that doubles as Juliana’s bed during the night. He grins as he sees them come in.

“There she is,” he says, looking at Juliana. “The brilliant _Señorita Valdés_. I thought you weren’t going to come home for Christmas. Your mom told me you stayed back in that fancy private school of yours to spend time with your new friends. What, we’re too lowly for you now?”

Juliana freezes on her spot, not knowing what to say.

Chino lets out a loud bark of laughter. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” he says, still chuckling.

He stands up and takes the one step separating them in one quick movement. Juliana flinches, but he only puts his arms around her, pulling her to his chest. It’s the first time he has ever hugged her.

“Welcome home,” he says, kissing the top of Juliana’s head.

Juliana shivers. Beside them, she can see Lupé beaming at them. She knows that her mother believes that Chino has changed. She wishes she could believe it too.

Chino lets her go and messes her hair up in what he must think is a playful manner. “I’m proud of you. Finally, we don’t have to spend money on your education.” Before anyone can respond, he steps away from Juliana and heads towards the kitchen. “Alright, I’m hungry,” he declares. “What’s for lunch, Lupita?”

Lupé follows after him, solicitous, apologising for not having prepared his meal yet.

Juliana takes a seat on the couch, bringing her backpack around to put on her lap. She looks at Lupé and Chino warily -- wearily -- before gazing down at her backpack. She left her robes in her dorm at Ilvermorny. She had to surrender her wand before she was allowed to leave the school. She even had to leave her magical coloured pens. There’s nothing magical inside her backpack.

Nothing, save for the Floo Glass Valentina gave her. Juliana clings to it like a lifeline.

.  
.  
.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> " _Eres mi regalo para este año_ " is totally stolen from Miss Bárbara López herself. She said it to Maca in an instagram comment. I can't find it now, but I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it. Or who knows, maybe it's one of those social media AUs and I stole it from some brilliant person who made a social media AU post?
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> 1\. Thank you all for reading this fic, particularly to those who gave kudos, and even more to those who commented. 🤗😊 I enjoyed writing this fic, so I hope you enjoyed reading it.
> 
> 2\. To those who asked if I plan to write about them getting older and falling in love: yes I do. I've got the story up to Val's 7th year and Juls' 5th. I plan to update the story in instalments, like this one. I don't know when I'll manage to complete it so if you're impatient and want to know some things, hit me up on Tumblr (estamos-destinadas). I can't promise to answer everything though.
> 
> 3\. I debated for a while about putting that epilogue in and finally decided (before posting this story) not to because it does not have the story's happy tone. However, [kiarcheo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo) and [lyl-i-am](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyl_i_am/pseuds/lyl_i_am) made some comments which made me realise you all might actually want to know what happens when they go home, so you can thank them for that.


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